Executive Summary
A directed-energy weapon (DEW) is a high-power laser that burns through a drone or missile. Allies are fielding. The United Kingdom ordered four DragonFire systems (50-kilowatt class) in April 2024, initial operating capability 2027, per-shot cost around 100,000 pounds sterling. The US Navy fielded the 60-kilowatt HELIOS laser on USS Preble in 2022. Israel ordered Iron Beam (100-kilowatt class) in 2024, initial operating capability 2026. Russia has deployed Peresvet since 2018. Lithuania has no programme of record. The driver is cost. A Russian Geran-3 drone costs 20,000 to 50,000 euros; a Patriot interceptor three to four million. Lithuania's April 2026 buys (Merops, AIM-9X, NASAMS, Skyranger 30) are all kinetic. The recommended next step is a feasibility study by the Ministry of National Defence, with input from Brolis Semiconductors and the Lithuanian Laser Center, examining three options: component supply, hosting an allied system, or buying off the shelf. The choice is for Lithuania.
The Problem
Russian one-way attack drones are launched in waves of dozens to hundreds. A Geran-3 (the Russian-built Iranian Shahed-136 derivative) costs an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 euros. Standard NATO interceptors cost orders of magnitude more: a Patriot PAC-3 round runs three to four million euros, an IRIS-T SLM round is in the same hundreds-of-thousands-of-euros bracket. Ukraine has reported running short of interceptors during sustained drone waves. The same arithmetic applies to Lithuania.
Lithuania has no directed-energy weapon programme of record. The country has world-class photonics expertise — Brolis Semiconductors makes mid-infrared laser sources for the NATO Support and Procurement Agency catalogue, the Lithuanian Laser Center (FTMC) runs world-class research, and NanoAvionics builds satellite buses — but none of this feeds into a fielded DEW. The April 2026 procurement wave (Merops, AIM-9X, NASAMS, Skyranger 30) is entirely kinetic.
Without action: Lithuania remains dependent on costly kinetic interceptors against cheap drones. Domestic photonics expertise is captured by foreign defense markets without a Lithuanian platform. Allies field DEW capability through 2027-2028 while Lithuania is not in the conversation.
Lithuanian Context
A 50-kilowatt DEW typically requires roughly 250 kilowatts of grid or generator input because lasers are inefficient (around 20 percent wall-plug efficiency). Lithuania has limited mobile-power infrastructure and would need to budget generator trains alongside any DEW buy. Brolis Semiconductors (mid-infrared gallium-antimonide lasers) and the Lithuanian Laser Center could plausibly supply components — beam directors, target-tracking optics, mid-infrared sources — but neither is positioned to be a DEW prime. Whether Lithuania joins as a component supplier, hosts an allied system, or buys off the shelf is a study question, not a foregone conclusion.