Army Directed Energy Weapons, and More from CRS

U.S. Army efforts to develop directed energy weapons — such as lasers and microwave weapons — are surveyed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service.

Such weapons are probably years away from actual deployment by the Army, if indeed they ever become practical options.

“While DE weapons offer a variety of advantages over conventional kinetic weapons including precision, low cost per shot, and scalable effects, there are also some basic constraints such as beam attenuation, limited range, and an inability to be employed against non-line-of-sight targets which will need to be addressed in order to make these weapons effective across the entire spectrum of combat operations,” the CRS report said.

The status of some directed energy programs is obscured by secrecy, CRS said. “The classified nature of most of DOD’s HPM [high-power microwave] programs… makes public and academic examination of these programs problematic.”

The first DoD laser weapon ever to be approved for operational use was deployed aboard the USS Ponce (now decommissioned), according to the U.S. Navy.

See U.S. Army Weapons-Related Directed Energy (DE) Programs: Background and Potential Issues for Congress by Andrew Feickert, February 7, 2018.

Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.

Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations, February 8, 2018

Iran: Politics, Human Rights, and U.S. Policy, February 8, 2018

Yemen: Civil War and Regional Intervention, February 7, 2018

Rwanda: In Brief, February 7, 2018

The 10-20-30 Plan and Persistent Poverty Counties, February 8, 2018

Medicare Trigger, February 8, 2018

Women in Congress, 1917-2018: Service Dates and Committee Assignments by Member, and Lists by State and Congress, February 6, 2018

Federal Spending on Benefits and Services for People with Low Income: In Brief, February 6, 2018

Introduction to U.S. Economy: The Business Cycle and Growth, CRS In Focus, December 13, 2017