A uv preionized CO/sub 2/ oscillator with integral four-pass amplifier capable of providing 1 to 5 GW laser pulses with pulse widths from 0.1 to 0.5 ns full width at half-maximum (FWHM) is described. The apparatus is operated at any pressure from 1 atm to 10 atm without the necessity of complex high voltage electronics. The reinjection technique employed gives rise to a compact, efficient system that is particularly immune to alignment instabilities with a minimal amount of hardware and complexity.