Exclusive Content

In this exclusive Q&A, Harry Sinsheimer, Deputy Director, Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (DE JTO), answers the following questions:

• What DE priorities will/should take precedence in 2019 and 2020?
• How can we best prepare to move out of development and onto deployment?
• What are the largest challenges today in integrating HELs?
• Tentatively, what are your suggestions for key objectives/priorities for the next 2-5 years?
• As a speaker at the upcoming 4th Annual Directed Energy Systems Summit, what is one message you hope attendees will take away from your presentation?
  

To achieve battlefield overmatch and superiority, the U.S. is working to expedite DE programs and initiatives for operationalization in the near term. With this in mind, we took a look at recent directed energy developments in China, Russia, and the United States. Download this report to learn all about how the United States is leveraging DE capabilities to meet emerging national security needs.

Want to learn more about what happened in 2018? Check out our Post Show Report that highlights: prominent speakers, attendee statistics, top-rated content, top takeaways from 2018, what to expect in 2019, and much more!

We sat down with Colonel Richard Haggerty and Dr. Boris Zhdanov to discuss:

• How the FY 2018 budget appropriations affected directed energy (DE) programs
• Where DE acquisition and force integration is heading in FY 2019
• Priorities for research and development  

Colonel Haggerty is the ninth Project Manager for Instrumentation, Targets, Threat Simulators and SOF Training Systems (PM ITTS) at PEO STRI, U.S. Army. Dr. Zhdanov is a Senior Scientist at the Laser and Optics Research Center (LORC) at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA).

Both Colonel Haggerty and Dr. Zhdanov spoke at the 2018 Directed Energy Systems Summit. 

We took a look at some of the latest developments taking place in the directed energy space. There has yet to be significant progress in directed energy weapons and although the technology for the most part is here, lasers have to get more efficient and reliable for contracts to be issued and operational implementation to begin. Congress has authorized roughly $2.4 billion on R&D work into new weapon technologies for 2018. This huge amount of funds is working to make lasers and railguns a reality. This infographic gives a timeline of what the US Military is currently developing to maintain its status as the world's military leader.