Why Laser Beams Are the Hottest New Tech in Defense
Episode
53 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Startups, Fundraising & VC, Software Development
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Weapon type selection: Lasers function as precision sniper rifles targeting one object at a time using concentrated heat energy, while high-powered microwaves act as electronic shotguns capable of disabling multiple drone swarms simultaneously by frying electronics. Matching weapon type to threat category — not defaulting to expensive interceptors — is the core operational principle commanders should apply.
- ✓Layered air defense architecture: Israel's model demonstrates the optimal framework: Arrow 2/3 for intercontinental ballistic missiles, David's Sling for mid-range threats, Iron Dome for shorter threats, and Iron Beam laser for drone-level threats. This tiered structure prevents commanders from spending $4.1 million PAC-3 interceptors against $30,000 Shaheed-136 drones, preserving expensive munition stocks.
- ✓Power generation as the binding constraint: Scaling lasers from current 50-kilowatt platforms (capable of downing a single drone) to the Pentagon's 2030 target of one megawatt requires solving deployable power generation. Static shore-power systems work for fixed base defense, but mobile operations on trucks or ships demand compact generators that do not yet exist at sufficient output levels.
- ✓Critical mineral supply chain risk: Gallium, ytterbium, terbium, and dysprosium — essential for laser diodes and high-powered magnets — are predominantly Chinese-controlled, sometimes at 85–90% global supply share. China restricted 12 of these minerals from U.S. export last year, making domestic onshoring deals like the Pentagon's MP Materials agreement a strategic procurement priority alongside weapon development.
- ✓Defense market segmentation: PAC-3 interceptor production is scaling from 620 to 2,000 units annually while THAAD production targets a 4x increase. The mid-tier gap — cheap containerized munitions between $30,000 drones and $4 million interceptors — is being filled by five DoD-contracted disruptors: Coaspire, Leidos, Anduril, Zone 5, and Castilian, signaling a structural shift in defense procurement toward non-prime vendors.
What It Covers
Bloomberg Intelligence defense analyst and former Army Colonel Wayne Sanders explains directed energy weapons — laser beams and high-powered microwaves — covering their physics, power requirements, supply chain vulnerabilities, market size projections of $6–8 billion growing 2–3x over a decade, and their role within layered air defense architectures.
Key Questions Answered
- •Weapon type selection: Lasers function as precision sniper rifles targeting one object at a time using concentrated heat energy, while high-powered microwaves act as electronic shotguns capable of disabling multiple drone swarms simultaneously by frying electronics. Matching weapon type to threat category — not defaulting to expensive interceptors — is the core operational principle commanders should apply.
- •Layered air defense architecture: Israel's model demonstrates the optimal framework: Arrow 2/3 for intercontinental ballistic missiles, David's Sling for mid-range threats, Iron Dome for shorter threats, and Iron Beam laser for drone-level threats. This tiered structure prevents commanders from spending $4.1 million PAC-3 interceptors against $30,000 Shaheed-136 drones, preserving expensive munition stocks.
- •Power generation as the binding constraint: Scaling lasers from current 50-kilowatt platforms (capable of downing a single drone) to the Pentagon's 2030 target of one megawatt requires solving deployable power generation. Static shore-power systems work for fixed base defense, but mobile operations on trucks or ships demand compact generators that do not yet exist at sufficient output levels.
- •Critical mineral supply chain risk: Gallium, ytterbium, terbium, and dysprosium — essential for laser diodes and high-powered magnets — are predominantly Chinese-controlled, sometimes at 85–90% global supply share. China restricted 12 of these minerals from U.S. export last year, making domestic onshoring deals like the Pentagon's MP Materials agreement a strategic procurement priority alongside weapon development.
- •Defense market segmentation: PAC-3 interceptor production is scaling from 620 to 2,000 units annually while THAAD production targets a 4x increase. The mid-tier gap — cheap containerized munitions between $30,000 drones and $4 million interceptors — is being filled by five DoD-contracted disruptors: Coaspire, Leidos, Anduril, Zone 5, and Castilian, signaling a structural shift in defense procurement toward non-prime vendors.
Notable Moment
Sanders describes how the U.S. military spent decades optimizing for peer-adversary conventional warfare, stockpiling exquisite missiles, only to find itself burning through multi-million-dollar interceptors against styrofoam-and-plywood drones — a miscalculation that now drives the entire directed energy procurement urgency.
Episode Transcript
00:00:03 Speaker 1: Hello, Odd Lodge listeners. I'm Joe Wiesenthal. 00:00:06 Speaker 2: And I'm Tracy Alloway. 00:00:07 Speaker 1: We're the hosts of the Odd Lodge podcast, and we've got something exciting for you. 00:00:11 Speaker 2: That's right. So one of the best parts of hosting our podcast is we get to actually meet and interact with our listeners. And we know we have some listeners over in Los Angeles. 00:00:21 Speaker 1: That's right. So if you're in L.A., we're going to be recording a live show, some live recordings at the Vermont Theater in Hollywood on September 17th. 00:00:30 Speaker 2: We have some really exciting guests lined up, have some really great conversations planned. So go ahead and get your tickets. You can find those over at Bloomberg.com forward slash oddlots or click the link below in the show notes and come and say hi when you're there. Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. Hello and welcome to another episode of the OddLots Podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway. 00:01:09 Speaker 1: And I'm Joe Weisenthal. 00:01:10 Speaker 2: Joe, I gotta get something out of the way immediately up top of this episode. You know, normally you and I talk for a couple minutes and then I introduce the guest. Yes. I'm just gonna introduce the guest right away and say today we are speaking with Colonel Sanders. I actually, I have some sympathy for this issue of people with famous military names because my dad was in the Air Force and his first name is Tom. 00:01:34 Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. 00:01:35 Speaker 2: Can you guess what the highest rank was that he actually achieved in the Air Force? 00:01:39 Speaker 3: Oh, major. Yep. 00:01:40 Speaker 2: And he always claimed he was under-promoted because people found it funny to have Major Tom in the Air Force. Of course, you have to ask the question of whether he was over-promoted to get to Major Tom. 00:01:51 Speaker 1: I bet he never thought that story, but it's just as plausible. 00:01:55 Speaker 2: That's right. Okay, so we'll have to ask our guest whether he was over-promoted to colonel or under-promoted to brigadier general, but we're going to be speaking with Wayne Sanders. He's the senior defense research analyst over at Bloomberg Intelligence, and we're going to be talking about laser beams and microwave weapons. 00:02:12 Speaker 1: Great. I don't know anything about laser beams or microwave weapons. This is all going to be new to me. I have seen in sci-fi movies that, you know, In theory, you could shoot a laser. 00:02:22 Speaker 2: Pew, pew, pew. 00:02:23 Speaker 1: But like, I don't know if that's a real thing or if that's just like a sort of cinematized version of what a visual weapon could be like. 00:02:30 Speaker 3: I have no idea. 00:02:31 Speaker 1: Evidently, it is real-ish because there is research on laser weapons and energy …
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