DIRECTEDENERGY WEAPONSDirected Energy: The Focus on Laser Weapons Intensifies
There a growing interest in directed energy weapons, once considered in the realm of science fiction. How to separate the considerable hype about these futuristic-sounding technologies from their more-nuanced impacts on the real-world battlefields of today and tomorrow?
The robotic craft swoops in low, closing on its target. The enemy’s sensors try to get a fix, as the planet surface races past below. In an instant, a beam reaches out from below at the speed of light, the high-powered laser burning through its target. This is not Star Wars: this is Scotland, last week, where the UK Ministry of Defense and its industry partners conducted the first successful firing of their DragonFire laser weapon against an aerial target.
With this trial, the culmination of £100 million of investment to date, the United Kingdom joined other nations racing to develop and deploy what are known in military parlance as directed energy weapons (DEW). Though the technology is yet to mature, the United States has begun to deploy early laser weapons on several of its naval destroyers, as well as testing ground- and air-based versions.
Following the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Israel has sought to expedite development of its own Iron Beam laser weapon to help shoot down incoming rockets and drones, augmenting the kinetic interceptors of its Iron Dome missile defense system. China, Russia, France, India, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Japan, and others are investing in their own national programs, with varying degrees of progress.
But why such interest in directed energy weapons, once considered in the realm of science fiction? And how to separate the considerable hype about these futuristic-sounding technologies from their more-nuanced impacts on the real-world battlefields of today and tomorrow?
Bringing Directed Energy into Focus
Lasers are only one type of DEW, a broad category that encompasses efforts to harness and weaponize different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Electronic warfare (EW) has been a growing feature of modern conflict for over a century. Since the advent of radio and subsequent development of radar, militaries have exploited different frequencies for communications and intelligence-gathering purposes. Low-energy lasers have similarly been used for range-finding and targeting, enabling precision weapons to be guided into a target by forces on the ground and reducing the risk of friendly fire or civilian casualties.
