An intense electron beam has been used to initiate HF lasing in mixtures of SF6and C2H6. Parametric studies of this highly superradiant chemical‐laser system were performed to determine optimum composition of the SF6/C2H6mixture. The maximum laser energy measured was 5.5 J in a pulse width (FWHM) of 45 nsec. The efficiency for conversion of deposited electron‐beam energy to laser energy was approximately 4%. The chemical reactions and the limits on the production of fluorine atoms and of vibrationally excited HF are discussed.