The Department of War has confirmed plans to expand the use of “directed energy weapons.”
Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering confirmed on January 23 that it is further developing these weapons. This follows guards reporting a “sonic weapon” during the American raid to capture former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
“Yes, the @DeptofWar has directed energy weapons. Yes, we are scaling them,” the office posted on X.
Yes, the @DeptofWar has directed energy weapons.
Yes, we are scaling them. pic.twitter.com/Ew5FoKcw4B
— Department of War CTO (@DoWCTO) January 23, 2026
When American forces launched a raid overnight January 2 to 3 to capture former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, they used a powerful “sound wave” weapon, according to accounts from guards at the dictator’s complex.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reposted the story on X. The guard said Americans used a weapon that projected a “very intense sound wave.”
“Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside. We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move,” a guard reportedly said. “We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon or whatever it was.”
The 2018 National Defense Strategy spelled out the development of “directed energy,” according to the Department of War website. The department called for proposals about the technology in 2021.
Just days after the Maduro raid, on January 7, the Congressional Research Service updated a report on directed energy, which it defines as using concentrated electromagnetic energy to “incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and/or personnel.”
“Senior U.S. defense officials have identified directed energy as a technology that could have a significant impact on U.S. national security in the years to come,” the report reads. “A number of countries are investing in directed-energy weapons programs.”
America, China, and Russia are all developing direct energy weapons, according to the report.
China has been developing weapons since at least the 1980s, and Russia has been developing them since the 1960s.