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Air defense for $13 a shot?
by 8DonCo Thu Mar 14, 2024 2:40 pm
Air defense for $13 a shot? How lasers could revolutionize the way militaries counter enemy missiles and drones
Britain says it has successfully test fired the DragonFire laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) system
British Defence Ministry
Britain this week showed off a new laser weapon that its military says could deliver lethal missile or aircraft defense at around $13 a shot, potentially saving tens of millions of dollars over the cost of missile interceptors that do the job now.
Newly released video of a test of what the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry calls the DragonFire, a laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) system, captured what the ministry says was the successful use of the laser against an aerial target during a January demonstration in Scotland.
“It’s a potential game changer for air defense,” the video says as a bright laser beam pierces the night sky over a firing range in the remote Hebrides archipelago, creating a ball of light as it hits its target.
The Defense Ministry says the DragonFire can precisely hit a target as small as a coin “over long ranges,” but it did not offer specifics. The exact range of the weapon is classified, it said.
The laser beam can cut through metal “leading to structural failure or more impactful results if the warhead is targeted,” a UK Defense Ministry statement said.
And it is claimed it also take out its targets for a tiny fraction of what current air defense missiles cost.
The Defense Ministry put the price of firing a 10-second laser burst at around $13. In contrast, the Standard Missile-2 used by the United States Navy for air defense costs more than $2 million per shot.
The DragonFire laser weapon is tested in January on a British firing range. UK Defense Ministry
“It has the potential to be a long-term low-cost alternative to certain tasks missiles currently carry out,” a January statement from the UK Defense Ministry said.
The cost of air defense missiles has become a hot topic in defense circles in recent years as low-cost drones have shown their effectiveness in on battlefields in Ukraine and in attacks by Houthi rebels against commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Analysts have questioned how long the US, UK and their partners can keep using multi-million-dollar missiles against Houthi drones that can in some cases be acquired for well under $100,000.
Meanwhile expensive air defense systems from Western allies have been crucial to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from attacks by Russian missiles and drones.
A UK Dragonfire laser directed energy weapon system at the DSEI arms fair at ExCel on September 10, 2019 in London, England.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
“Low-cost drones and rockets have swung the economic calculus of offense and defense in favor of those using large volumes of cheap unmanned systems and munitions to overwhelm more-sophisticated air and missile defenses,” James Black, assistant director defense and security for the RAND Europe think tank, wrote in a blog post in January.
DragonFire could help swing that calculus back in the UK’s favor, Black said.
“This type of cutting-edge weaponry has the potential to revolutionize the battlespace by reducing the reliance on expensive ammunition,” UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapp said in January after the DragonFire test.
Britain says it has successfully test fired the DragonFire laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) system
British Defence Ministry
Britain this week showed off a new laser weapon that its military says could deliver lethal missile or aircraft defense at around $13 a shot, potentially saving tens of millions of dollars over the cost of missile interceptors that do the job now.
Newly released video of a test of what the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry calls the DragonFire, a laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) system, captured what the ministry says was the successful use of the laser against an aerial target during a January demonstration in Scotland.
“It’s a potential game changer for air defense,” the video says as a bright laser beam pierces the night sky over a firing range in the remote Hebrides archipelago, creating a ball of light as it hits its target.
The Defense Ministry says the DragonFire can precisely hit a target as small as a coin “over long ranges,” but it did not offer specifics. The exact range of the weapon is classified, it said.
The laser beam can cut through metal “leading to structural failure or more impactful results if the warhead is targeted,” a UK Defense Ministry statement said.
And it is claimed it also take out its targets for a tiny fraction of what current air defense missiles cost.
The Defense Ministry put the price of firing a 10-second laser burst at around $13. In contrast, the Standard Missile-2 used by the United States Navy for air defense costs more than $2 million per shot.
The DragonFire laser weapon is tested in January on a British firing range. UK Defense Ministry
“It has the potential to be a long-term low-cost alternative to certain tasks missiles currently carry out,” a January statement from the UK Defense Ministry said.
The cost of air defense missiles has become a hot topic in defense circles in recent years as low-cost drones have shown their effectiveness in on battlefields in Ukraine and in attacks by Houthi rebels against commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Analysts have questioned how long the US, UK and their partners can keep using multi-million-dollar missiles against Houthi drones that can in some cases be acquired for well under $100,000.
Meanwhile expensive air defense systems from Western allies have been crucial to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from attacks by Russian missiles and drones.
A UK Dragonfire laser directed energy weapon system at the DSEI arms fair at ExCel on September 10, 2019 in London, England.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
“Low-cost drones and rockets have swung the economic calculus of offense and defense in favor of those using large volumes of cheap unmanned systems and munitions to overwhelm more-sophisticated air and missile defenses,” James Black, assistant director defense and security for the RAND Europe think tank, wrote in a blog post in January.
DragonFire could help swing that calculus back in the UK’s favor, Black said.
“This type of cutting-edge weaponry has the potential to revolutionize the battlespace by reducing the reliance on expensive ammunition,” UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapp said in January after the DragonFire test.
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8DonCo
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