Recently, the U.S. Navy awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract worth nearly $30 million to California startup Coherent Aerospace & Defense for the "Pine Bow" project, which focuses on pulsed fiber lasers and subsystems with high-bandwidth wavefront control capabilities. The research and development content includes: developing pulsed fiber Lasrar för målbelysning och fjärravkänning och integrering av flera 50- kilowatt -moduler i en enda stråle genom strålkontrollkomponenter för att bygga en 400- kilowatt lasersystem .}
The work on the Pine Bow project is expected to be completed in January 2027 and is part of the U.S. Navy's work to expand its directed weapon capabilities and replace traditional interceptors. Such directed energy weapons cost between $1 and $10 per shot and can operate continuously as long as the ship's fuel supply supports power generation. The Pine Bow system is developed for both offshore and land-based platforms, but the target carrier platform has not yet been determined. Its target output power level significantly exceeds the U.S. Navy's current laser systems, such as 30-kilowatt laser weapon systems and 60-kilowatt high-energy lasers with integrated Optiska bländande och övervakningssystem .
