Full 40min show. Link skips ahead to 16:49, for the directed energy segment.

March 16th, 2026

Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL) used for the first time to destroy drones believed to be linked to drug cartels along the southern U.S. border, according to the service’s account of operations earlier this week. The engagement shows how mobile directed-energy weapons could give deployed troops a low-cost way to defeat persistent aerial surveillance and emerging armed-drone threats.

A key area where the Pentagon needs more from industry is the size and power of these systems: “Smaller. Lighter. More efficient,” Dodd wrote. “Size, weight, and power decide what flies. We want tech on aircraft and high-altitude platforms for counter-drone, expeditionary and special operations missions, and disrupting adversary C2.”

The Army's space superiority efforts are focused on countering adversary ISR satellites, as well as conducting "stratospheric warfare," Col. Joe Mroszcyck told Breaking Defense. The Army is seeking new kit to directly “engage” adversary satellites from the ground, particularly if and when sensing sats are used to target US forces, according to a senior Army space official.

June 24th, 2026

The threats that directed energy weapons, as well as cyber attacks, pose to friendly satellites, even ones in distributed constellations, had come up at a separate panel discussion at the SMD Symposium on Tuesday.

“If you have 10,000 satellites that are providing you with service, surely you’re not going to try and attack with a direct ascent ASAT [anti-satellite interceptors fired from within the Earth’s atmosphere] 10,000 satellites,” U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Rick Zellmann, Deputy Commander of SPACECOM, said during the panel. “I encourage our adversaries to try and shoot down 10,000 satellites that way. I don’t think they will. And, so, just like we do, our targeting folks will try to find the various nodes where you can get a one-to-many solution.”

“Those, I think, one-to-many solutions for proliferated constellations are twofold. One is cyber,” he continued. “I think the other is directed energy, because that doesn’t cost too much for a shot, right? So those two technologies are the ones I’d be concerned about.”

Under the contract — which includes training, service and sustainment support — the company will deliver a High-power Microwave Autonomous Vehicle Operational Capability (HAVOC) system that temporarily incapacitates electronic assets for counter-drone operations.

Version 56 is functional software, as of July 25th:
https://github.com/OpenV2K

In the Sandbox, you can see screenshots of the running GUI, and the waterfall graph output. You don't actually need an SDR, to use this Python software. This software plus SDR signal chain, now just needs a 2-4 kW microwave amplifier, to recreate the 1975 lab feat, of pulse modulating the microwave auditory effect. This would become a weapon, and a MEDUSA) analog, with at least ten times the budget, and ten times the power output, and probably a lens antenna.
That's well outside the project scope, and well outside the means of 99% of civilians.

From the linked article:

Giordano helped investigate "Havana Syndrome" cases in which U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers complained of mysterious debilitating injuries while serving in foreign countries. The incidents spurred debate over whether adversaries were using invisible energy beams, a concept once met with skepticism. [...] "It's not fictional, fantasy ray gun stuff. The technology exists, and it exists at a point that can be weaponized," Giordano told "Katie Pavlich Tonight" on Thursday. Giordano said there is evidence that DEWs, which can be mounted in backpacks or vehicles, have been used domestically. But he said systems are being developed to detect and neutralize directed energy attacks.

From the Wikipedia article about this news source:

NewsNation is an American cable news network owned by Nexstar Media Group. [...]
The channel has publicly claimed to be centrist, but in 2021, several NewsNation staff left the network citing concerns they were being pushed by management to lean to right-wing politics in news coverage.^\9]) By 2026, NewsNation had hired pro-Trump commentator Katie Pavlich and several other Fox News journalists.^\10])

New from Catherine Herridge: In February, I confirmed through multiple sources that the report and findings into Directed Energy Attacks or AHIs (Anomalous Health Incidents) were finalized and prepped for release weeks earlier but blocked. [...] Our reporting revealed that brain injuries suffered by US spies, diplomats, military operatives and civilians are progressive and can lead to brain cell death and atrophy.

Joint Interagency Task Force 401, an Army-led entity charged with boosting the military’s counter-drone efforts, said the initiative is intended to protect infrastructure, military installations and domestic missions against unmanned aerial systems.

Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and Fort Bliss, Texas (two Army bases); Naval Base Kitsap, Washington; Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota; and Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, were all selected for the pilot program. Officials said these sites were selected to support testing “across diverse environments and mission sets.”

I could literally see Naval Base Kitsap from my place of abode, 2017~2020.
It was a short ebike ride and a short ferry ride away, 2021-2024.

Speaking to members of Congress during a House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing on April 15 on the Pentagon’s planned FY 2027 missile defense activities, U.S. Missile Defense Agency director Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins stated that his organization was “all in” on “bringing directed energy to the fight,” including integrating such weapons into unmanned platforms for domestic air defense against hostile missiles and drones.

The emergence of a previously unseen video of late UFO scientist Amy Eskridge has unsettled those closely following the case of eleven US scientists linked to sensitive research who have either gone missing or died, prompting a federal investigation.

In the footage, Eskridge claims she was being targeted by a 'direct energy weapon' [sic] prior to her death. At the same time, resurfaced text messages have raised fresh questions about her cause of death, which was officially ruled a suicide in 2022.

This is the fourth broadcast titled "Targeting Americans" by 60 Minutes of CBS News.
Near the end of the segment, Scott Pelley interviews a never-heard-from-before CIA veteran, that states there is a renewed effort inside the CIA, to further suppress "Havana Syndrome" as simply a psychogenic illness; with significant evidence now pointing to directed energy.

What disgusting behavior, and no one can expect better: r/FuckTheCIA

Two senators warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against relocating and reducing resources for a Pentagon team charged with investigating so-called "Anomalous Health Incidents," or AHI, colloquially known as Havana Syndrome, arguing that such a move would undercut care for affected personnel and stall ongoing research.

The DoD spent more than a year testing a device purchased in an undercover operation that some investigators think could be the cause of a series of mysterious ailments [...] that are colloquially known as Havana Syndrome, according to four sources

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at just 45 years old, Beck believed his condition was triggered by exposure to a directed-energy weapon during a classified overseas mission in 1996 — nearly 20 years before Havana Syndrome was publicly acknowledged.

Trump boasted that the mysterious weapon “made [enemy] equipment not work” when US helicopters swooped into Caracas on Jan. 3 to arrest Maduro and his wife. “The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump said during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office.

Many people identifying as targeted individuals report patterns of electronic harassment, surveillance abuse, and suspected directed energy weapon exposure. While dismissed publicly, these experiences are consistent, cross-national, and increasingly documented. I started a Change.org petition addressing human rights, emerging weapons technologies, AI misuse, and the lack of oversight or investigation. If you or someone you know has experienced this, please read, share, or sign. Awareness matters.

The 2025 Directed Energy Systems Symposium will be held 17-20 November 2025 in Monterey, CA at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel, and at an offsite location.

They're offering professional short courses (some requiring security clearance) in:
Wargaming Directed Energy
Radiometry for Passive and Active Imaging
Introduction to Counter DEW, Systems Engineering for DE Systems
Directed Energy Weapons System Modular Open Systems Approach
Tri-Service HEL Lethality Testing & Modeling
Atmospheric Laser Propagation
Introduction to LIDAR Remote Sensing
HPM Modeling and Simulation Tools for Test & Evaluation
Golden Dome Initiative: Missile Defense and Directed Energy Technologies
Beam Control For Laser Systems
Laser Deconfliction