Directed Energy Weapons

Jon Ludwigson discusses our April 2023 report on Directed Energy Weapons. DOD spends about $1 billion annually on directed energy—concentrated electromagnetic energy—weapons, including high energy lasers and high powered microwaves. DOD has pursued these potentially transformative technologies for decades because they could provide considerable advantages. They can deliver destructive or disruptive effects to targets at the speed of light and have potentially significant advantages over kinetic weapons, such as guns and missiles, including lower per-use cost. Check out the report: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105868 Get transcript: https://www.gao.gov/assets/820/819118.txt Learn more about GAO: gao.gov/about Check out the WatchBlog: gao.gov/blog Check out our Podcasts: gao.gov/podcast Follow GAO on Social Media: Twitter.com/usgao Instagram.com/usgao LinkedIn.com/company/us-government YouTube.com/usgao Facebook.com/usgao Flicker.com/photos/usgao General Information: The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. Mission: Our Mission is to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. We provide Congress with timely information that is objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, non-ideological, fair, and balanced. Disclaimer: The U.S. GAO does not promote or endorse any non-Government or commercial content appearing on this page. #GovernmnentAccountabilityOffice #CongressionalWatchdog #USGAO