A scheme to achieve stationary continuous‐wave (cw) lasing in the vacuum‐ and extreme‐ultraviolet spectral region is proposed. It is based on recombination pumping in a freely expanding plasma produced in a high pressure, high temperature plasma jet. Stationary cw‐lasing at 1640 A˚ or 729 A˚ can be expected by inverting the He II (2←3) or Li III (2←3) Balmer‐&agr; transition following three‐body recombination of bare He2+or Li3+ions, respectively. The expected gain coefficients are calculated using a time dependent collisional‐radiative model and estimates of the required pumping power as well as considerations on the technical feasibility of the concept are presented. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.