The Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation office is exploring fieldable prototypes of directed-energy (DE) weapon systems that can participate in an anticipated demonstration for counter-cruise missile airbase defense.
The office released a notice on Federal Business Opportunities today requesting information from the Pentagon, other government agencies, and industry on high-energy lasers or high-powered microwaves that are ready for experimentation no later than the middle or end of fiscal year 2020.
The effort reflects the Air Force’s initiative to operationalize DE weapons for airbase defense under a flight plan that was signed by the service’s leadership in May 2017. Michael Jirjis, chief of the DE Weapons Experimentation Campaign at the Air Force Research Lab, is managing the project.