Directed Energy Weapons: Types, Examples, and What Is Known

Directed energy weapons use concentrated electromagnetic energy rather than a projectile to affect a target. Publicly documented systems include high energy lasers, millimeter wave devices, and high power microwave weapons. This guide separates those technologies from disputed incidents and unsupported countermeasure claims.

What counts as a directed energy weapon?

The definitions used by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and Congressional Research Service focus on concentrated electromagnetic energy. Under that technical definition, the main current categories are high energy lasers and high power electromagnetic systems. GAO divides the electromagnetic systems into millimeter wave and high power microwave weapons.

Radiofrequency, or RF, is an umbrella term that covers part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is not automatically a separate weapon class. Likewise, directed energy is the parent category, not another item alongside lasers and microwaves.

The main types of directed energy weapons

1. High energy lasers

High energy lasers produce a narrow beam, usually in the visible or infrared part of the spectrum. A system may dazzle or degrade an optical sensor, damage a component, or destroy a target if it can deliver enough energy to the right point for long enough.

Lasers are generally line of sight systems. Tracking, distance, weather, smoke, dust, cooling, and electrical power can affect performance. A dazzler and a laser intended to damage a drone belong to the same physical family, but they differ greatly in output and intended effect.

2. Millimeter wave systems

Millimeter wave systems use electromagnetic wavelengths between microwaves and infrared. GAO treats them as a distinct practical class because their beam behavior and interaction with targets differ from both narrow laser beams and longer wavelength high power microwaves.

The best known public example is the Active Denial System, developed to produce temporary surface heating and encourage people to leave an area. Claims about its range, deployment, injuries, or operational use require current program specific evidence.

3. High power microwave weapons

High power microwave systems use intense microwave energy primarily to affect electronics. Depending on the system and target, an effect may be temporary disruption, degradation, or physical damage. A wider beam can potentially affect more than one electronic target, but it may also create targeting and friendly system concerns.

High power microwave is not a synonym for every RF exposure, communications outage, or electronic failure. Device behavior alone cannot identify a weapon.

4. Particle beam concepts

Some broad definitions include weapons that accelerate atomic or subatomic particles. These concepts are less mature in public reporting, and the 2024 CRS survey placed particle beam weapons outside its scope.

Are acoustic weapons such as LRAD included?

Acoustic devices direct sound rather than electromagnetic energy. LRAD products are often placed beside directed energy weapons in popular articles because both can project energy toward a target. In the GAO and CRS framework, however, acoustic devices are a separate technology.

Sound, laser, millimeter wave, and microwave exposure behave differently. Grouping them under a made up acronym creates false comparisons and unreliable protection advice.

Publicly acknowledged examples

There is no complete public inventory of every directed energy weapon. The following are representative U.S. programs discussed by CRS and GAO. A program name does not prove that a system is widely deployed or currently operational.

• LaWS: a Navy laser demonstrator deployed aboard USS Ponce in 2014.

• HELIOS: a Navy high energy laser and optical surveillance program.

• ODIN: a Navy optical dazzling system intended to counter sensors.

• HELWS: an Air Force laser system developed mainly for counter drone missions.

• DE M-SHORAD: an Army vehicle mounted laser air defense effort.

• THOR: an Air Force microwave demonstrator developed to counter groups of drones.

• CHIMERA: an Air Force microwave counter electronics program.

• IFPC-HPM: an Army microwave effort associated with aerial defense.

• Active Denial System: a millimeter wave system developed for area denial.

Other programs include Phaser, SHiELD, IFPC-HEL, HELCAP, SSL-TM, and Layered Laser Defense. Programs can change status or remain experimental, so a historical list is not a deployed arsenal.

How mature are these weapons?

Development ranges from laboratory work to demonstrators, prototypes, field evaluations, and operational equipment. GAO reported that technical and acquisition challenges had prevented widespread use even as research increased, especially for counter drone missions.

A practical weapon also needs power, cooling, sensing, tracking, beam control, software, and a suitable platform. These supporting systems often determine whether a demonstration becomes useful equipment.

What effects can they produce?

A system may deny access, temporarily degrade equipment, cause damage, or destroy a target. The outcome depends on weapon type, target, distance, time on target, tracking, weather, and available power.

• Lasers can dazzle sensors, damage optical components, or heat vulnerable parts of a target.

• Millimeter wave systems can produce surface heating effects under controlled operating conditions.

• High power microwave systems are mainly discussed as tools for disrupting or damaging electronics.

• Particle beam effects remain primarily a research topic in public documentation.

These categories do not support universal claims about exact range, injuries, lethality, or effectiveness. Such claims must be tied to a named system and an authoritative source.

What about Havana Syndrome and other alleged attacks?

Anomalous health incidents involved real symptoms and extensive investigation, but public evidence has not established one directed energy weapon as the cause of all cases. Military laser and microwave programs do not prove that an unexplained illness, sound, heat sensation, or equipment problem was a weapon attack.

Headache, dizziness, nausea, hearing changes, burns, and vision problems have many possible causes and require medical assessment. Symptoms alone cannot diagnose an attack.

Realistic civilian safety guidance

No consumer product protects against every system. Protection depends on energy type, frequency or wavelength, power, geometry, exposure time, and tested equipment performance.

• Leave an area with an obvious intense light, heat, or sound hazard when it is safe to do so.

• Do not stare at a suspected laser source or use binoculars, cameras, or scopes to inspect it.

• Use ordinary hearing protection around known high noise hazards, but do not assume it blocks every acoustic exposure.

• Seek urgent medical care for burns, sudden vision loss, severe hearing changes, neurological symptoms, or other emergencies.

• Record the time, place, visible equipment, witnesses, and conditions without assigning an unverified cause.

• Report credible immediate threats to emergency services or the appropriate authority.

Improvised foil, untested mesh, generic laser glasses, underground shelter, and mixed material camouflage should not be promised as reliable protection. Laser eyewear must match specific wavelengths and optical densities. Electromagnetic shielding requires tested design and control of openings and cables. Unknown systems make homemade protection claims especially unreliable.

The bottom line

Directed energy weapons are real, but they are not one weapon. The clearest public taxonomy is high energy lasers, millimeter wave systems, and high power microwave systems, with particle beam concepts sometimes added. Acoustic devices are separate.

Distinguish named systems from rumors and prototypes from operational equipment. Do not diagnose unexplained symptoms or failures as attacks. Official technical, medical, and emergency guidance should take priority over speculative countermeasures.