- International families
- 1,7012015 to 2024
- Leading country
- United States1.2× the next
- All families
- 3,793home filings included
- Over five years
- Falling2020 to 2024 against the five before
Year by year
Patent families by country of origin and the year of the earliest filing, 2000 to 2025; 2025 is a part year, still filling in. International families are those for which protection was sought beyond one country.
Volume
International patent families in the capability, by the year of the earliest filing.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Share by country
Each country's share of the year's international families, in per cent: the capability's five largest countries of origin, 2015 to 2024, and the rest of the world.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Country leaderboard
International patent families, 2015 to 2024, by country of origin. Growth compares the latest five full years with the five before.
Ten largest
United States
Japan
Germany
China
United Kingdom
France
South Korea
Israel
Netherlands
Taiwan
479
386
232
150
99
68
57
53
44
15
| 2000 to 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 479 | 28.2% | 0.9× | 815 | |
| 2 | Japan | 386 | 22.7% | 0.7× | 441 | |
| 3 | Germany | 232 | 13.6% | 1.1× | 293 | |
| 4 | China | 150 | 8.8% | 1.3× | 1,520 | |
| 5 | United Kingdom | 99 | 5.8% | 1.0× | 119 | |
| 6 | France | 68 | 4.0% | 0.8× | 78 | |
| 7 | South Korea | 57 | 3.4% | 1.0× | 194 | |
| 8 | Israel | 53 | 3.1% | 1.6× | 60 | |
| 9 | Netherlands | 44 | 2.6% | 1.1× | 45 | |
| 10 | Taiwan | 15 | 0.9% | 0.5× | 20 | |
| 11 | Canada | 15 | 0.9% | 2.8× | 21 | |
| 12 | Switzerland | 14 | 0.8% | 1.8× | 15 | |
| 13 | Italy | 14 | 0.8% | 0.8× | 19 | |
| 14 | Denmark | 12 | 0.7% | 5.0× | 12 | |
| 15 | Austria | 6 | 0.4% | 5.0× | 6 | |
| 16 | Sweden | 5 | 0.3% | 0.7× | 5 | |
| 17 | Australia | 5 | 0.3% | 0.3× | 5 | |
| 18 | Finland | 4 | 0.2% | 1.0× | 5 | |
| 19 | Spain | 4 | 0.2% | 1.0× | 6 | |
| 20 | Russia | 4 | 0.2% | 1.0× | 58 | |
| 21 | Czechia | 4 | 0.2% | 1.0× | 5 | |
| 22 | Singapore | 3 | 0.2% | 2.0× | 3 | |
| 23 | India | 1 | 0.1% | 0.0× | 1 | |
| 24 | Belgium | 1 | 0.1% | – | 2 | |
| 25 | Türkiye | 1 | 0.1% | 0.0× | 1 | |
| 26 | Norway | 1 | 0.1% | 0.0× | 1 | |
| 27 | Poland | 1 | 0.1% | – | 6 | |
| 28 | Hong Kong | 1 | 0.1% | 0.0× | 2 | |
| 29 | New Zealand | 1 | 0.1% | – | 1 | |
| 30 | South Africa | 1 | 0.1% | 0.0× | 2 | |
| 31 | Luxembourg | 1 | 0.1% | 0.0× | 1 | |
| 32 | Malaysia | 1 | 0.1% | – | 1 | |
| 33 | Ireland | 0 | 0.0% | – | 2 | |
| 34 | Brazil | 0 | 0.0% | – | 1 | |
| 35 | Saudi Arabia | 0 | 0.0% | – | 3 |
Applicants
The largest applicants by international patent families, 2015 to 2024: across the world, then within each of the five countries with the most families in Directed Energy Technologies. Names are as held in the source and are not consolidated across subsidiaries.
Global
1,701 international families
GIGAPHOTON INC · Japan
Cymer LLC · United States
RAYTHEON CO · United States
ASML NETHERLANDS BV · Netherlands
BAE SYSTEMS PLC · United Kingdom
TRUMPF LASER GMBH · Germany
125
72
46
37
34
33
United States
479 international families
Cymer LLC
RAYTHEON CO
CYMER INC
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORP
IPG PHOTONICS CORP
LUMENTUM OPERATIONS LLC
71
46
31
22
18
18
Japan
386 international families
GIGAPHOTON INC
FUJIKURA LTD
NEC CORP
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP
PANASONIC IP MAN CO LTD
MITSUBISHI HEAVY IND LTD
124
31
27
21
21
20
Germany
232 international families
TRUMPF LASER GMBH
DIEHL DEFENCE GMBH & CO KG
FRAUNHOFER GES FORSCHUNG
RHEINMETALL WAFFE MUNITION GMBH
MBDA DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
TRUMPF Laser SE
33
23
18
15
13
13
China
150 international families
HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
GUANGDONG WITOL VACUUM ELECTRONIC MFT CO LTD
BEIJING NAURA MICROELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT CO LTD
GUANGDONG MIDEA KITCHEN APPLIANCES MFG CO LTD
UNIV ELECTRONIC SCI & TECH CHINA
ARRAYED MAT CHINA CO LTD
30
9
5
5
4
3
United Kingdom
99 international families
BAE SYSTEMS PLC
COHERENT SCOTLAND LTD
Elekta ltd
TELEDYNE UK LTD
M SQUARED LASERS LTD
SPI LASERS UK LTD
34
5
5
5
4
4
Similar capabilities
The nine capabilities that share the most international patent families with Directed Energy Technologies, 2015 to 2024: the families counted in both as a share of those counted in either. Each card shows its five largest countries.
National Security
Counter-Uncrewed & Low-Altitude Defence
14.5% shared · 296 families in both
United States
Germany
United Kingdom
Japan
Israel
156
135
72
56
50
National Security
Integrated Air & Missile Defence
4.2% shared · 86 families in both
Germany
United States
Japan
Israel
United Kingdom
92
75
47
41
28
Strategic Infrastructure
Military Bases & Installations
3.0% shared · 93 families in both
United States
Germany
South Korea
United Kingdom
Japan
353
218
111
100
84
Critical Technology
Superconducting, Magnetic & Photonic Materials
2.9% shared · 411 families in both
Japan
United States
China
South Korea
Germany
4,778
2,134
1,575
1,414
897
National Security
Long-Range Strike
1.9% shared · 48 families in both
United States
Germany
United Kingdom
France
Israel
278
159
88
77
44
National Security
Land Fires
1.8% shared · 55 families in both
United States
Germany
France
United Kingdom
South Korea
357
232
127
113
93
National Security
Electronic Warfare & Spectrum Operations
1.5% shared · 56 families in both
United States
China
Japan
Germany
South Korea
587
328
227
225
120
Critical Technology
Advanced Optical Communication & Photonics
1.4% shared · 726 families in both
Japan
United States
China
Germany
South Korea
13,338
11,398
9,204
2,973
2,316
National Security
Battlefield Aviation & Uncrewed Systems
0.9% shared · 18 families in both
United States
South Korea
Germany
Israel
United Kingdom
68
29
23
23
22
Crosswalk
How Directed Energy Technologies is matched to the patent classifications. The entries below were chosen for it; each stands for itself and everything beneath it in the scheme, 69 Cooperative entries in all. A patent family counts when any of its codes, in either scheme and at any office, falls under one of them. Codes since retired are placed under the entries that replaced them.
| Entry | Title in the scheme | Why it is chosen | CPC codes | IPC codes | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F41H13/0043 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target | Directed-energy weapons: laser, microwave, radio-frequency beams | 8 | none | 5,761 |
| F41H13/0093 | Devices generating an electromagnetic pulse, e.g. for disrupting or destroying electronic devices | Electromagnetic pulse devices | 1 | none | 438 |
| H01S3/23 | Arrangements of two or more lasers not provided for in groups H01S3/02 - H01S3/22, e.g. tandem arrangements of separate active media | Combined and amplified multi-laser arrangements for high power | 12 | 2 | 29,120 |
| H01J25/00 | Transit-time tubes, e.g. klystrons, travelling-wave tubes, magnetrons | High-power microwave tubes: klystrons, magnetrons, travelling-wave tubes | 48 | 46 | 22,774 |
CPC and IPC codes are the codes in use on patent documents, at any office, that fall under the entry. Documents is the larger of the two schemes' counts of documents carrying one of them. An entry with no IPC codes can be told apart only in the Cooperative scheme.
The Cooperative codes in use that count towards Directed Energy Technologies: 69 codes on 55,295 documents. The full crosswalk is in the cpc-to-capability.csv download.
| Code | Title | Under entry | How placed | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H01S3/2383 | Parallel arrangements | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 6,686 |
| H01S3/2308 | Amplifier arrangements, e.g. MOPA | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 5,543 |
| H01S3/2316 | Cascaded amplifiers | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 3,242 |
| H01S3/2391 | Parallel arrangements emitting at different wavelengths | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 2,944 |
| H01S3/2333 | Double-pass amplifiers | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 2,272 |
| H01S3/2375 | Hybrid lasers | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 2,090 |
| H01J25/587 | Multi-cavity magnetrons | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 1,872 |
| H01J25/50 | Magnetrons, i.e. tubes with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 1,853 |
| H01S3/23 | Arrangements of two or more lasers not provided for in groups H01S3/02 - H01S3/22, e.g. tandem arrangements of separate active media | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 1,852 |
| F41H13/005 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a laser beam | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 1,545 |
| H01S3/2366 | Arrangements of two or more lasers not provided for in groups H01S3/02 - H01S3/22, e.g. tandem arrangements of separate active media comprising a gas as the active medium | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 1,455 |
| H01J25/34 | Travelling-wave tubes; Tubes in which a travelling wave is simulated at spaced gaps | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 1,392 |
| H01J25/38 | Tubes in which an electron stream interacts with a wave travelling along a delay line or equivalent sequence of impedance elements, and without magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field the forward travelling wave being utilised | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 1,332 |
| H01J25/12 | Klystrons, i.e. tubes having two or more resonators, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the zone of the input resonator with pencil-like electron stream in the axis of the resonators | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 1,319 |
| H01S3/2325 | Multi-pass amplifiers, e.g. regenerative amplifiers | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 1,310 |
| H01S3/235 | Regenerative amplifiers | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 1,198 |
| H01J25/10 | Klystrons, i.e. tubes having two or more resonators, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the zone of the input resonator | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 1,079 |
| H01J25/00 | Transit-time tubes, e.g. klystrons, travelling-wave tubes, magnetrons | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 942 |
| F41H13/0062 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a laser beam causing structural damage to the target | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 900 |
| F41H13/0056 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a laser beam for blinding or dazzling, i.e. by overstimulating the opponent's eyes or the enemy's sensor equipment | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 892 |
| H01J25/24 | Reflex klystrons, i.e. tubes having one or more resonators, with a single reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the modulator zone in which the electron stream is in the axis of the resonator or resonators and is pencil-like before reflection | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 839 |
| F41H13/0087 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a bright light, e.g. for dazzling or blinding purposes | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 698 |
| H01J25/02 | Tubes with electron stream modulated in velocity or density in a modulator zone and thereafter giving up energy in an inducing zone, the zones being associated with one or more resonators | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 657 |
| H01J25/04 | Tubes having one or more resonators, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the modulation produced in the modulator zone is mainly density modulation, e.g. Heaff tube | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 646 |
| H01J25/52 | Magnetrons, i.e. tubes with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field with an electron space having a shape that does not prevent any electron from moving completely around the cathode or guide electrode | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 576 |
| F41H13/0043 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 522 |
| F41H13/0068 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being of microwave type, e.g. for causing a heating effect in the target | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 520 |
| H01J25/44 | Tubes in which an electron stream interacts with a wave travelling along a delay line or equivalent sequence of impedance elements, and with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field the forward travelling wave being utilised | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 509 |
| H01J25/025 | Tubes with electron stream modulated in velocity or density in a modulator zone and thereafter giving up energy in an inducing zone, the zones being associated with one or more resonators with an electron stream following a helical path | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 464 |
| F41H13/0093 | Devices generating an electromagnetic pulse, e.g. for disrupting or destroying electronic devices | F41H13/0093 | In the scheme | 438 |
| H01J25/78 | Tubes with electron stream modulated by deflection in a resonator | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 428 |
| F41H13/0081 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being acoustic, e.g. sonic, infrasonic or ultrasonic | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 410 |
| H01S3/2341 | Four pass amplifiers | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 406 |
| H01J25/42 | Tubes in which an electron stream interacts with a wave travelling along a delay line or equivalent sequence of impedance elements, and with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 402 |
| H01J25/36 | Tubes in which an electron stream interacts with a wave travelling along a delay line or equivalent sequence of impedance elements, and without magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 381 |
| H01J25/40 | Tubes in which an electron stream interacts with a wave travelling along a delay line or equivalent sequence of impedance elements, and without magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field the backward travelling wave being utilised | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 353 |
| H01J25/58 | Magnetrons, i.e. tubes with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field with an electron space having a shape that does not prevent any electron from moving completely around the cathode or guide electrode having a number of resonators; having a composite resonator, e.g. a helix | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 353 |
| H01J25/68 | Tubes specially designed to act as oscillator with positive grid and retarding field, e.g. for Barkhausen-Kurz oscillators | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 350 |
| H01J25/76 | Dynamic electron-multiplier tubes, e.g. Farnsworth multiplier tube, multipactor | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 348 |
| H01J25/49 | Tubes using the parametric principle, e.g. for parametric amplification | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 303 |
| H01J25/06 | Tubes having only one resonator, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the modulation produced in the modulator zone is mainly velocity modulation, e.g. Lüdi-Klystron | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 291 |
| H01J25/56 | Magnetrons, i.e. tubes with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field with an electron space having a shape that does not prevent any electron from moving completely around the cathode or guide electrode having only one cavity or other resonator, e.g. neutrode tubes with interdigital arrangements of anodes, e.g. turbator tube | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 288 |
| F41H13/0075 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a radiofrequency beam | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 274 |
| H01J25/74 | Tubes specially designed to act as transit-time diode oscillators, e.g. monotrons | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 225 |
| H01J25/54 | Magnetrons, i.e. tubes with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field with an electron space having a shape that does not prevent any electron from moving completely around the cathode or guide electrode having only one cavity or other resonator, e.g. neutrode tubes | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 224 |
| H01J25/46 | Tubes in which an electron stream interacts with a wave travelling along a delay line or equivalent sequence of impedance elements, and with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field the backward travelling wave being utilised | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 221 |
| H01J25/55 | Coaxial cavity magnetrons | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 218 |
| H01J25/08 | Tubes having only one resonator, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the modulation produced in the modulator zone is mainly velocity modulation, e.g. Lüdi-Klystron with electron stream perpendicular to the axis of the resonator | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 203 |
| H01J25/22 | Reflex klystrons, i.e. tubes having one or more resonators, with a single reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the modulator zone | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 201 |
| H01J25/32 | Tubes with plural reflection, e.g. Coeterier tube | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 187 |
| H01J25/005 | Gas-filled transit-time tubes | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 176 |
| H01J25/16 | Klystrons, i.e. tubes having two or more resonators, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the zone of the input resonator with pencil-like electron stream perpendicular to the axis of the resonators | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 164 |
| H01J25/70 | Tubes specially designed to act as oscillator with positive grid and retarding field, e.g. for Barkhausen-Kurz oscillators with resonator having distributed inductance with capacitance, e.g. Pintsch tube | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 138 |
| H01J25/20 | Klystrons, i.e. tubes having two or more resonators, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the zone of the input resonator having special arrangements in the space between resonators, e.g. resistive-wall amplifier tube, space-charge amplifier tube, velocity-jump tube | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 134 |
| H01J25/11 | Extended interaction klystrons | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 130 |
| H01S3/2358 | Arrangements of two or more lasers not provided for in groups H01S3/02 - H01S3/22, e.g. tandem arrangements of separate active media comprising dyes as the active medium | H01S3/23 | In the scheme | 122 |
| H01J25/593 | Rising-sun magnetrons | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 115 |
| H01J25/48 | Tubes in which two electron streams of different velocities interact with one another, e.g. electron-wave tube | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 96 |
| H01J25/14 | Klystrons, i.e. tubes having two or more resonators, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the zone of the input resonator with tube-like electron stream coaxial with the axis of the resonators | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 74 |
| H01J25/18 | Klystrons, i.e. tubes having two or more resonators, without reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the zone of the input resonator with radial or disc-like electron stream perpendicular to the axis of the resonators | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 67 |
| H01J25/28 | Reflex klystrons, i.e. tubes having one or more resonators, with a single reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the modulator zone in which the electron stream is perpendicular to the axis of the resonator or resonators and is pencil-like before reflection | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 67 |
| H01J25/30 | Reflex klystrons, i.e. tubes having one or more resonators, with a single reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the modulator zone in which the electron stream is perpendicular to the axis of the resonator or resonators and is radial or disc-like before reflection | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 65 |
| H01J25/72 | Tubes specially designed to act as oscillator with positive grid and retarding field, e.g. for Barkhausen-Kurz oscillators in which a standing wave or a considerable part thereof is produced along an electrode, e.g. Clavier tube | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 65 |
| H01J25/60 | Magnetrons, i.e. tubes with a magnet system producing an H-field crossing the E-field with an electron space having a shape that prevents any electron from moving completely around the cathode or guide electrode; Linear magnetrons | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 62 |
| H01J25/64 | Turbine tubes, i.e. tubes with H-field crossing the E-field and functioning with reversed cyclotron action | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 57 |
| H01J25/62 | Strophotrons, i.e. tubes with H-field crossing the E-field and functioning with plural reflection | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 43 |
| H01J25/26 | Reflex klystrons, i.e. tubes having one or more resonators, with a single reflection of the electron stream, and in which the stream is modulated mainly by velocity in the modulator zone in which the electron stream is coaxial with the axis of the resonator or resonators and is tube-like before reflection | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 26 |
| H01J25/61 | Hybrid tubes, i.e. tubes comprising a klystron section and a travelling-wave section | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 23 |
| H01J25/66 | Tubes with electron stream crossing itself and thereby interacting or interfering with itself | H01J25/00 | In the scheme | 18 |