Robert Afzal
Events
Robert Afzal
Senior Fellow - Laser & Sensor Systems | Lockheed Martin
About the Speaker
Dr. Robert Afzal is a Senior Fellow for Laser and Sensor Systems at Lockheed Martin, where he oversees the technical development of lasers and laser applications and serves as a principal architect of Lockheed Martin's directed energy roadmap. He has been a central figure in advancing high-energy laser systems from laboratory research toward operational deployment across air, land, and maritime platforms.
His work has been instrumental in pioneering spectral beam combining — a technique that combines multiple fiber lasers into a single high-quality, high-power beam — enabling Lockheed Martin to develop scalable, platform-integrable directed energy systems. He led technical development on programs including the delivery of a world-record 60 kW-class fiber laser for the U.S. Army and the HELIOS system, a high-energy laser combining weapon, ISR, and counter-UAS capabilities for U.S. Navy surface ships. With Lockheed Martin's directed energy heritage spanning more than four decades, Dr. Afzal remains one of the field's most authoritative voices on the transition from demonstrator systems to deployable operational capability.
