LASER WEAPONSIsrael Sets to Deploy Laser Weapons to Counter Missiles, Rockets, and Drones
Laser weapons have long been the stuff of science fiction films and video games, but the last few years saw more and more laser system developed and deployed. Israel says it has successfully tested an effective, and cost-effective, solid-state laser weapon that can shoot down missiles, rockets, mortars, and drone – and a cost of about $3.50 per kill.
Israel Ministry of Defense (MOD) a few weeks ago announced that after more than two decades of research and development, Israel Defense Force (IDF) has now tested an operational laser weapon – called Iron Beam — which, in tests, proved capable of destroying missiles, rockets, mortars, and drones in flight. The MOD said that the most recent tests took place in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, and that the success of the laser system in destroying a rocket, a mortar, and a drone, was welcomed by a standing ovation of senior military commanders and government officials witnessing the test.
Israel’s Prime Minister Naphtali Bennett described the weapon as offering the region a “strategic turning point,” and said his government was committed to “surround Israel with a laser wall.”
Engineers and technical experts who were involved in developing the weapons, and outside expert observers, said it would be at least 2-3 years, if not more, before the system is ready to be operationally deployed. Israeli experts said that the system, when deployed, would initially likely be limited to protecting Israel from rockets.
Israeli officials did not say whether the system would be effective against more advanced, precision-guided missiles, which Iran has been supplying Hezbollah with.
Laser weapons have long been the stuff of science fiction films and video games, but the last few years saw more and more laser system developed and deployed. One example is the Helios, developed by Lockheed Martin, which is being deployed on U.S. Navy ships. The U.S. Army is working on laser system aiming to shoot down cruise missiles.
Israeli officials said that the Iron Beam system would be a complement to existing antimissile and anti-rocket systems such as Iron Dome and David’s Sling.
Israel’s existing defensive systems rely on kinetic energy: the system’s radars identify an enemy missile and chart its trajectory, and the Iron Dome or David’s Sling anti-missile missile slams into the enemy missile and destroys it.
The laser system focuses an intense laser beam on a single point on the enemy’s projectile, and heats it up until it explodes in midair.
The MOD said that during the March in northern Israel, the laser system intercepted threats within a few seconds after detection — and at a distance of up to 10 kilometers.
In 1983 President Ronald Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, aka “Star Wars”), which aimed, in his words, to make nuclear missiles “impotent and obsolete.” The initial
