Changing the Game: The Promise of Directed-Energy Weapons

This report, from Mark Gunzinger and Chris Dougherty of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), examines DE as a particularly promising source of operational advantage for the military. The unique attributes of future DE capabilities—the ability to create precise, tailorable effects against multiple targets near-instantaneously and at a very low cost per shot—have great potential to help defence ministries break from a programme of procuring increasingly expensive military technologies with diminishing operational returns.