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This ability to learn through prototypes and experiments has always been resident in the MDA but is new for the Navy. The Navy recently created a Surface Navy Laser Weapon System program as its very first Rapid Prototyping, Experimentation and Demonstration (RPED) project, which allows the service to put new technologies in the field, learn lessons early to reduce risk, and decide whether and how to proceed before spending too much money, Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems (OPNAV N9), said at the summit, cohosted by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

“The added value of directed energy weapon systems can no longer be ignored. Cost-effectiveness, lethality, infinite magazine capacity, and precision targeting are all attributes that the military seeks and needs in its weapon systems.”

Adm. John Richardson, speaking at the Directed Energy Summit in Washington March 29, spoke glowingly of the potential for directed-energy technology, telling the audience that, from his "layman's assessment, there are no major technology obstacles standing in the way of getting this thing out." He said he had recently travelled to companies and warfare centers working on directed-energy technologies. "I'm personally pushing on this myself," Richardson said. "We're committed and moving forward as fast as we can." But the admiral declined to answer questions about the power of the envisioned system, as well as when and where the Navy aims to first deploy the weapon. Richardson said he will be "far more reluctant to talk about things like that. People are listening."

Maj. Gen. William Hix, director of strategy, plans and policy in the office of the deputy chief of staff (G-3/5/7), said at the Directed Energy Summit March 29 in Washington that some of those directed-energy challenges include improving the mobility, size, weight, power, all-weather capability, and the ability to complement other systems.   "There are also some other opportunities out there . . . communications, operations in space, and perhaps, in the deeper future, direct fire," he said.

As the U.S. military faces increased competition from near-peer competitors, the chief of naval operations said March 29 he would start keeping details of some of the Navy’s most high profile technology programs closer to the vest. One example is laser technology, which will be critical for the service, Adm. John Richardson said during a Booz Allen Hamilton-hosted summit focusing on directed energy in Washington, D.C. “The implications of getting directed energy out on the field … will be transformational” for the service, he said. The Navy has already deployed the Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, a 30-kilowatt system, on the USS Ponce.

 “We cannot keep waiting to test prototypes or validate new weapons sitting in labs while our adversaries are testing relentlessly,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said at the Directed Energy Summit, hosted by Booz Allen Hamilton.