Michael Griffin, defense undersecretary for research and engineering, has said the Defense Department seeks to expand its budget for directed-energy weapons for missile defense operations in the next few years, Defense News reported Tuesday.
Griffin noted during a Center for Strategic and International Studies-hosted event that DoD’s future investments in missile defense will focus on “laser scaling†across various technologies.
He added that there is a need to increase the number of sensors in low-Earth orbit to deter hypersonic attacks from adversaries.
“We need to think about space as a domain which our adversaries seek to remove from our use, and respond accordingly,†the DoD official said.
During CSIS’ event, Griffin also said he believes missile defense decisions should remain under the Missile Defense Agency‘s responsibilities instead of transferred to the military.
He added that technologies such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system and Standard Missile-3 should be prioritized at DoD’s level.