**7. The Future**

Predicting what lies ahead is always risky, but a few comments will be ventured. More laser peening facilities will be equipped with the intermediate size lasers due to their small footprint and lower operating costs. These lasers will be located in, and operated by, the companies and incorporated within the normal flow of their production lines.

The low energy, high frequency laser systems will find their niche, perhaps first as their small size and portability will enable laser peening of critical locations in large structures to benefit from laser peening.

Eventually, applications will be found for other aspects of laser shock processing. Several have been explored in laboratories and have shown promise technically. However, they have to address a real need to justify the costs of further development. Some of these are metal forming of small objects such as MEMs components, welding of dissimilar metals for small assemblies, surface imprinting of shape memory alloys, laser peening additively manufactured parts and using thermomechanical processing, i.e., laser peening at elevated temperatures, where it contributes to higher compressive residual stress and strength.

One last comment: it has been a wonderful gift to have had the opportunity to be part of the birth and maturation of laser shock peening over the past 46 years.

**Funding:** The organizations funding the research described here were identified within the review text.

**Acknowledgments:** The author would like to acknowledge again those people named herein and those who are not, who have made the many valuable contributions leading to the successful development of laser shock peening.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflicts of interest.
