Redefining Directed Energy Weapons for the Modern Battlefield

nLIGHT, Inc. (Nasdaq: LASR), a leading provider of high‑power lasers for mission‑critical directed energy, optical sensing, and advanced manufacturing applications, today announced the launch of HADES™, a new family of high‑energy lasers (HEL) and effectors for laser weapon systems. Designed for the modern battlespace, HADES provides scalable, mission‑ready directed energy capabilities across land, sea, air, and space domains.

HADES is a scalable portfolio of high-energy laser effectors built on nLIGHT’s vertically integrated manufacturing base and industry leading beam‑combination technology with integrated atmospheric correction to achieve unprecedented lethality at range. Production ready today, HADES is robust and reliable, meeting the demanding requirements for integration into various weapons platforms, and enabling scalability from tens of kilowatts for C-UAS to hundreds of kilowatts for Advanced Threats.

“HADES builds on more than 25 years of innovation in laser power scaling, system integration, and high‑reliability manufacturing,” said Scott Keeney, President and Chief Executive Officer of nLIGHT. “By unifying our directed‑energy offerings into a single, scalable product family, HADES delivers production‑ready laser weapon solutions that achieve unmatched power scaling, superior beam brightness, and advanced atmospheric correction—bringing the brightest possible energy on target for the fastest kills at range.”

A Scalable Directed Energy Architecture

HADES is designed around nLIGHT’s vertically integrated laser technology stack, encompassing semiconductor laser diodes, fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and atmospheric correction. Leveraging patented and proprietary coherent beam combination technologies, HADES systems deliver high optical efficiency, beam quality, and reliability in ruggedized, field‑serviceable configurations. Each system can be integrated with existing beam directors, sensors, and battle management architectures, enabling rapid deployment across a broad range of military platforms and battlefield environments.

The newly launched 70kW-class is the first of the HADES family of high-energy laser effectors. Available today, the coherently beam-combined HEL with atmospheric correction delivers substantially higher lethality and engagement capability for C-UAS and counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missions, providing a solution for advanced air and missile defense applications and next-generation directed energy platforms.

Built for Operational Scale and Reliability

HADES systems are engineered to support the evolving needs of modern defense forces, offering:

• Speed‑of‑light engagement and deep magazines
• Low cost per engagement compared to kinetic interceptors
• Scalable power levels aligned with mission requirements
• Integrated fine tracking and atmospheric correction
• Compatibility with layered air and missile defense concepts
• Designed‑for‑manufacturability to support production ramps

HADES builds on nLIGHT’s successful execution of major U.S. Department of War and allied programs, including vehicle‑mounted and fixed‑site directed energy systems, and complements the company’s ongoing work advancing laser power scaling in the hundreds of kilowatts to 1-Megawatt.

Advancing the Future of Directed Energy

The launch of HADES reinforces nLIGHT’s strategic focus on directed energy as a core growth platform and aligns with increasing global demand for cost‑effective, scalable, and rapidly deployable defensive capabilities.

“As threats continue to evolve, directed energy is becoming a foundational element of the modern layered defense strategy,” said Rob Martinsen, CTO at nLIGHT. “HADES establishes a clear, scalable roadmap for customers — from near‑term operational needs to future high‑power systems — backed by nLIGHT’s proven manufacturing, integration, and delivery track record.”

About nLIGHT

nLIGHT, Inc. is a leading provider of high-power laser solutions for mission-critical directed energy, optical sensing, and advanced manufacturing applications. Headquartered in Camas, Washington, nLIGHT employs more than 800 people with operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company’s vertically integrated approach enables performance leadership from laser chip through system-level solutions. For more information, please visit www.nlight.net.

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