Air Defense: A Laser Weapon That Works
February 6, 2024: Britain has developed a laser-based weapon called DragonFire that can destroy or disable a UAV several kilometers distant. Each shot costs about $13 for the necessary electricity generated in the vehicle or ship carrying the DragonFire system. Britain is installing DragonFire in a 6x6 twelve-ton Wolfhound armored truck. DragonFire is also going to be installed on warships and replace conventional anti-aircraft or anti-missile systems.
Back in 2010 the U.S. Navy successfully tested a laser weapon, using it to destroy a UAV and then repeat that several times. The laser cannon was mounted on a KINETO Tracking Mount, which is similar, but larger and more accurate than the mount used by the Phalanx Close In Weapons System (CIWS). The navy laser weapon test used the radar and tracking system of the CIWS. In 2009 CIWS was upgraded so that its sensors could detect speedboats, small aircraft, and naval mines. Knocking down UAVs is not something that the navy currently needs help with, and the current laser gun technology has to be improved quite a bit before it's worth mounting on a ship.
This is a similar situation with laser weapons in the other services. In 2010 the U.S. Air Force fired its Airborne Laser Testbed (ALT) laser while in flight and hit a ballistic missile that had just been launched and was moving at 1,800 meters a second. The laser beam took several seconds to weaken the missile structure and cause it to come apart. This test came only eight months after an ATL was fired in flight for the first time. The target was some lumber on the ground, which was hit. The ATL weapon was carried in a C-130H four engine transport.
In 2005 manufacturers of combat lasers believed these weapons were only a few years away from battlefield use. To that end, Northrop-Grumman set up a new division to develop and build battle lasers. This optimism was caused by two successful tests in 2004. In one, a solid state laser shot down a mortar round. In another, a much more powerful chemical laser hit a missile type target. Neither of these tests led to any useable weapons, and the combat laser remained a weapon of the future. The basic problems are reliability and sufficient electrical power to generate the laser.
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