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."
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