RTX & Xcimer: One Laser to Power the Grid and Defend the Skies

ARLINGTON, VA & DENVER, CO – September 10, 2026 – In a move that bridges the gap between clean energy aspirations and pressing national security needs, defense giant RTX has made a strategic investment in laser fusion startup Xcimer Energy. The partnership, which includes a teaming agreement, aims to leverage a single, groundbreaking laser technology for two audacious goals: powering the nation's grid with commercial fusion energy and creating a new class of directed energy weapons to defend against airborne threats.

The collaboration pairs RTX's venture capital arm and its deep expertise in defense systems with Xcimer's innovative approach to laser technology. While RTX gains access to a potentially disruptive technology for its air defense portfolio, the investment simultaneously strengthens Xcimer's roadmap for a fusion pilot power plant, a plan already approved by the U.S. Department of Energy. This dual-use strategy could create a powerful feedback loop, accelerating development on two fronts that are critical to future global competitiveness.

"As the United States accelerates the development of next-generation air defense, the need for affordable and scalable directed energy systems has never been more urgent," said Conner Galloway, co-founder, CEO and Chief Science Officer at Xcimer. "Our excimer-based laser technology offers the performance, speed and inherent scalability needed at a fraction of the cost and complexity of today’s systems."

A New Blueprint for Laser Technology

At the heart of this alliance is Xcimer's Krypton-Fluoride (KrF) excimer gas laser. This technology is not entirely new—it has a proven commercial history in semiconductor manufacturing and LASIK eye surgery. However, Xcimer is advancing it to unprecedented levels of power and efficiency, addressing what it calls the "core challenge in both laser fusion and laser defense": building a laser that fires repeatedly and reliably at a low cost per joule.

Unlike the solid-state lasers used at the landmark National Ignition Facility (NIF)—which first proved fusion ignition was possible—Xcimer’s gas-based system promises a radical reduction in cost and complexity. The company claims its architecture is at least 60 times less expensive per unit of energy and can deliver ten times the energy output. By using gas as the laser medium, the system avoids the delicate, expensive crystal optics and complex supply chains associated with solid-state designs. The goal is a laser system costing under $100 per joule, a price point that could make both fusion energy and laser defense economically viable.

"We believe Xcimer’s pulsed-laser technology lines up perfectly with our expertise in areas like advanced sensing, command and control and air defense," noted RTX Chief Technology Officer Juan de Bedout. "Together we will explore how we can best integrate these technologies into advanced, scalable defense systems."

The Denver-based startup has already made significant strides, building and operating its first private-sector e-beam-pumped excimer lasers in over two decades. In June of this year, Xcimer began operating "Phoenix," a prototype industrial-scale laser system at its Denver facility, marking a key milestone on its path to a complete prototype laser system.

The Race for Commercial Fusion

The investment from RTX provides a significant boost to Xcimer's ambitions in the increasingly competitive race to commercialize fusion energy. The company is a key participant in the DOE's Milestone-based Fusion Development Program, a public-private initiative designed to fast-track the creation of fusion pilot plants.

In May 2023, Xcimer was one of eight companies selected for the program, and this past June, the DOE formally approved its preconceptual design and technology roadmap. This endorsement positions Xcimer as a frontrunner in the laser-driven approach to Inertial Confinement Fusion (IFE), where powerful laser pulses compress a fuel target to trigger a fusion reaction.

The company's "Athena" power plant design distinguishes itself further with a molten salt fusion chamber, a concept intended to protect the plant's solid structures from the intense fusion environment, thus maximizing uptime and minimizing long-lived radioactive waste. While competitors like Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion Energy pursue different paths, primarily using powerful magnets to confine plasma, Xcimer is betting that its simpler, more manufacturable, and cost-effective laser system provides the most direct path to putting fusion power on the grid by its target date in the mid-2030s.

Redefining the Modern Battlefield

While fusion energy remains a long-term goal, the defense applications of Xcimer's technology address an immediate and growing crisis. The modern battlefield is increasingly dominated by swarms of low-cost drones and missiles, which threaten to overwhelm traditional defense systems. Firing multi-million-dollar interceptor missiles to destroy thousand-dollar drones is an economically unsustainable equation.

This is where directed energy weapons (DEW) offer a paradigm shift. The RTX-Xcimer partnership aims to develop a mobile, container-sized pulsed ultraviolet laser system within two years. Such a system would function as a defensive tool with a deep, "almost unlimited" magazine, capable of engaging a high volume of threats at a fraction of the cost per shot of conventional munitions. The operational relevance of this technology was recently highlighted when the U.S. Army successfully used a high-energy laser system to defeat hostile drones.

RTX will provide the crucial "rest of the system"—its combat-proven expertise in advanced sensing, targeting, and command-and-control—to transform Xcimer’s powerful laser into a fully integrated weapon system. The goal is to create a weapon that not only offers a cost-effective solution to the drone threat but also delivers longer range and greater effectiveness than current DEW systems on the market.

The partnership represents a strategic convergence of long-term energy innovation and near-term defense imperatives. By pursuing both applications simultaneously, RTX and Xcimer are creating a symbiotic relationship where military-driven demand can accelerate the technology's maturity and drive down costs, ultimately bringing the dream of clean, limitless fusion energy one giant leap closer to reality.