Michael Griffin, defense undersecretary for research and engineering, has said the U.S. government and industry should advance the development of directed energy weapons amid the emergence of superpower competition with countries such as Russia and China, DoD News reported Wednesday.

“We have to have the technological leverage,” Griffin said Wednesday at the 2018 Directed Energy Summit in Washington.

“That realization was responsible for the creation of my office, to elevate the role of technology maturation and deployment and I believe it is responsible for the renewed interest in directed energy weapons,” he added.

He said maritime, ground, space and air domains are the four venues where directed energy weapon systems can be applied and such venues should require the warfighting tactics, logistics requirements, manpower support and basing strategies to be different.

“I would urge us not to think that one size fits all,” noted Griffin, a 2018 Wash100 recipient.

“I would urge us to keep a lot of arrows in our quiver as we go forward figuring out how we’re going to translate directed energy technologies into warfighting systems that are going to defend this country and our allies.”

President Donald Trump has called on Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to procure more U.S.-built weapons systems to help generate more U.S. jobs, CNBC reported Wednesday.

Memos of proposed foreign military sales deals from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency and State Department show that Saudi Arabia plans to purchase 153 M1A1/A2 Abrams battle tanks and related equipment from the U.S. government with General Dynamics’ land systems business as the principal contractor for the proposed $1.15 billion deal.

The Middle Eastern country intends to purchase CH-47F Chinook helicopters, missile warning systems and machine guns under a $3.51 billion transaction that lists Boeing and Honeywell as prime contractors.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon will serve as principal contractors in a proposed $15 billion deal that calls for the delivery of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system launchers and interceptor missiles to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi also proposed to buy $11.25 billion worth of four multi-mission surface combatant ships and related weapon systems from the U.S. government, the report noted.

The report added that the U.S. has recorded $54 billion in FMS deals with Saudi Arabia in the past nine months.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, has said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that Stratcom is “fully ready” to help protect U.S. and its allies from security threats and deter adversarial attacks, DoD News reported Tuesday.

He told committee members Tuesday that Stratcom functions as a global warfighting command to ensure the readiness, safety and realiability of the country’s strategic capabilities.

“Deterrence in the 21st century requires the integration of all our capabilities, across all domains, enabling us to respond to adversary aggression any time, anywhere,” added Hyten, a 2018 Wash100 recipient.

He pointed to nuclear triad as the backbone of national security and deterrence efforts.

The triad encompasses B-21 bomber aircraft, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, nuclear command-and-control, long-range standoff cruise missile, nuclear warhead and ground-based strategic deterrent programs.

The U.S. Army has appointed Col. Scot Doboszenski, distribution global operations director at the Defense Logistics Agency, to serve as commander of the Joint Manufacturing Technology Center.

The Army’s JMTC serves as the Defense Department‘s only integrated manufacturer of metal components and products, DLA said Tuesday.

Doboszenski began his military career in 1993 after graduating from St. John’s University as an Army Reserve Officers Training Corps scholar.

The following year, he was appointed to lead a Korea-based C Company platoon within the 302nd Forward Support Battalion as an executive officer.

In 2000, he began his almost three years of deputy service under the assistant chief of staff for logistics at G4, a position that he would eventually assume himself in 2014.

Doboszenski holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in management of information systems from Bowie State University.

The U.S. Air Force will perform tests in the summer of a laser weapon that will be installed on fighter jets to counter drones and missiles, Newsweek reported Tuesday.

Jeff Stanley, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for science, technology and engineering, told reporters that the laser weapon will undergo ground tests this summer and flight tests next year.

The test is part of the Air Force’s Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator program and will involve a weapon that will work to provide 50 kilowatts of power.

Lockheed Martin secured a $26.3 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory in November 2017 to design, develop and manufacture a laser weapon system under the SHiELD program.

The Air Force aims to mount the laser weapon on the F-15, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighter planes as well as future bomber aircraft.

The weapon is intended to disrupt unmanned aircraft systems and ground-to-air, air-to-air and cruise missiles.