Laser specialist IPG Photonics (IPG) reported Q2 sales of $251 million, surpassing the company’s May forecast of $225 million. The CEO attributed this to a “moderate recovery” in the company’s core industrial laser market, lower-than-expected trade tariff impact, and new capacity investments in China’s battery manufacturing sector driving growth in IPG Photonics’ laser welding business. However, ongoing tariff pressure did hit IPG’s profit margin. The Massachusetts-based company posted pre-tax income of $8.3 million for the quarter, down from $25 million a year earlier, despite relatively stable overall sales.
The IPG CEO also highlighted recent major progress in the laser weapons field, noting that IPG’s “Crossbow” optical bow system is now being shipped to top U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
Based on IPG’s commercial single-mode lasers, Crossbow is a relatively low-power yet scalable and cost-effective laser defense system designed to neutralize Group 1 and Group 2 drones as defined by the U.S. military—the smallest categories of UAV threats. The Crossbow system has undergone field testing over the past six months and will make its debut next month at the “DSEI UK 2025” military hardware trade show in London.
IPG’s manufacturing capability enables Crossbow to be sold at a “highly disruptive” price point, and both defense and commercial customers are expected to show strong interest in protecting critical military and civilian assets.
(Drone swarm threat)
Lockheed Martin is developing an integrated system to rapidly detect, track, identify, and counter multiple UAV threats, providing effective drone swarm defense. IPG’s Crossbow laser system has completed field tests and successfully fired at stationary targets over 700 meters away.
While Crossbow does not deliver the high-power directed energy required to take down large drones, artillery, or missiles, it addresses a critical threat: today’s battlefield is plagued by cheap, small UAVs costing only a few hundred dollars but capable of inflicting significant damage. Civilian infrastructure and border regions face the same challenges, and these incidents are becoming increasingly frequent.
Lockheed Martin’s architecture uses an open digital backbone, allowing forces to connect any sensor and any shooter. This ensures customers are not locked into a single technology or vendor. It also enables automated, real-time information sharing across all platforms. These features highlight the team’s strong momentum in developing a comprehensive counter-UAS (C-UAS) solution that can adapt to evolving threats and bring this critical capability closer to reality.