The UK has successfully fired a high-power laser weapon against an aerial target for the first time in a trial.
It is hoped that the test will pave the way for a low-cost alternative to missiles to shoot down targets like drones.
The DragonFire weapon is precise enough to hit a £1 coin from a kilometre away, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says.
If the targeting system is fast and accurate enough, that would be a difficult system to counter without using some kind of laser as well to destroy it, or an attack on its power source.
Laser’s aren’t difficult to counter, and are extremely dependent on uncontrollable operational conditons i.e. the weather.
No one weapon of the military is used in a vacuum, they are awful bloody tools in a large toolbox.
So having this will expand the capabilities and cost effectiveness overall, but not because it’s singularly amazing and unbeatable.
They don’t work well against large missiles or fast moving ones, these are pretty low powered, just enough to melt though a plastic drone or fry some electronics. So a big metal fast moving missile would still need a traditional defensive.
DragonFire is a 50KW system, the US is supposed to have systems that are 6 and 10 times more powerful available in 2024 with a system that’s 20 times more powerful in 2026. The US already has a mobile system, deployed on Army Strykers called DE M-SHORAD, as powerful as the British DragonFire.
A 10KW will down a decent sized drone in 8-15 seconds depending on where it hits. A 50KW will obviously do it faster and the 300KW and up systems will likely make it near instant.
Hmm interesting. Imagine a new arms race between lasers and drones. Country A can make this crazy laser defense system. Country B can make 50x as many drones as country A can handle.
Is it 50kw power draw, or thermal power delivered to the target? Even if it’s power delivered to target, that’s a 10 deg/sec rise in temp for a 1kg mass with the thermal capacity of water, it’s not insane. (If I’m doing my math right)
I believe they are rated by power output at the emitter. I think your math is correct but these systems aren’t heating water, nor are they heating a kilogram of it. They’re simply trying burn through / melt a few ounces of plastic. The journalist who test fired a 10KW system was able to down a drone in about 15 seconds by slagging its propeller so I have to imagine that a 50KW system would do it even faster, potentially as quick as just a second or two.
That’s why I was saying larger missiles would be more resistant, since they’d have higher thermal conductivity aluminum, and a shorter closing time than 15sec.
How about mirrors?
Having such lasers stationary is one thing, but having them mobile another. You need a lot of stored energy to fire those things. And the tracking is probably the hardest task, at least for small or very fast objects, because you need to be so much more accurate compared to autocannons with programmable ammunition.
Having such lasers stationary is one thing, but having them mobile another.
The US already has them. They’re called DE M-SHORAD and they’re mounted on Strykers.
Yes, like the Skyranger 30 HEL, which can be mounted on a Boxer or Lynx KF41, but those are still meant for flimsy aerial targets, not an armored laser turret within a heavily protected compound.
but those are still meant for flimsy aerial targets, not an armored laser turret within a heavily protected compound.
Wait, what? The comment I replied to insinuated that a mobile 50KW system wasn’t possible so I linked you to one that the US already has. You then linked me to the Skyranger which has a LESS powerful laser than DE M-SHORAD and brought up “armored laser turrets within a heavily protected compound.”
I am now confused as to your point.
“Oi oi oi governer you got a liscence for that?”
For a giant death laser? I sure hope it’s restricted access.
we should test it on the kreml
Lasers are still a meme weapon. Their range is short and has extremely high loss with distance. Furthermore they need to burn a target for a while so the exact same tactic that defeated the iron dome will defeat these lasers a hundred times harder. A barrage of cheap rockets and drones all at the same time.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The UK has successfully fired a high-power laser weapon against an aerial target for the first time in a trial.
It is hoped that the test will pave the way for a low-cost alternative to missiles to shoot down targets like drones.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the technology could reduce “the reliance on expensive ammunition, while also lowering the risk of collateral damage”.
The MoD says both the Army and Royal Navy are considering using the technology as part of their future air defence capabilities.
It is being developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), alongside some industry partners, on behalf of the MoD.
Dstl’s chief executive Dr Paul Hollinshead said: “These trials have seen us take a huge step forward in realising the potential opportunities and understanding the threats posed by directed energy weapons.”
The original article contains 402 words, the summary contains 138 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Who thought the British will get to have King Raptors first?
How good would a sequel be, sigh
Generals is a game that would totally not get made today. If not for the GLA being offensive, it was literally banned by China.
The GLA theme is a banger though.
I 100% agree about China, though I think you could do a guerrilla faction “respectfully.” You could do a 2nd world faction as well thematically as some combination of BRICS economies
Rheinmetall has the HEL and I believe the US has one in the works too.
The US already has a variety of HEL systems. The Navy has them, the Army has a Stryker brigade with them along with systems to go in the bed of a pickup truck and one that mounts on a side by side.
I remember seeing them on the tips of planes like 15 years ago.
That’s one I hadn’t seen before. Got any more info?
At the risk of sounding excessively American, I kinda want one
By rights, every American should have one, preferably funded by tax dollars that could have gone to education.
Cheaper than missiles! Look how cheap it is to kill people now. Unfortunately we need to kill more innocents now to keep the manufacturers in profit.
How are we gonna make a laser arc? And if it was from an aerial POV it would actually cause less collateral damage than something that explodes.
Why is this comment downvoted? Raytheon exists on Lemmy or something?
I forgot that you have to use /s in every sentence one the internet. /s
