Recently, according to media reports, the British "Dragon Fire" laser weapon successfully shot down several drones during field testing. The British military also announced that it will consider using this weapon as an important force for future air defense. Coincidentally, a new high-energy laser anti drone system was showcased at the 2023 Japan Defense Exhibition. The system is installed on ground vehicles and can track drones within 300 meters and destroy drone targets within 100 meters. In recent years, drones have made frequent appearances on the battlefield, and how to counter them has become a key research topic in various countries. Traditional anti drone systems mainly rely on anti-aircraft missiles and multi caliber anti-aircraft guns, but these traditional weapons are costly and ineffective in combating swarm drones. Compared to this, laser weapons present three advantages: low cost. Laser weapons use high-energy beams as a means of attack, and the launch cost is only the power consumption required for the driving system. For example, the launch cost of the "Dragon Fire" laser weapon is only 10 pounds each time, compared to tens of thousands of dollars for a single round of salvo from small caliber anti-aircraft guns, and more advanced anti-aircraft missiles often cost millions of dollars per round. Traditional artillery still has the problem of short barrel lifespan, which requires replacement after continuous firing for a certain period of time. However, laser weapons do not have the lifespan issue of multiple shots, further reducing shooting costs. Strike accurately. The laser beam flies at the speed of light, with a speed of 300000 kilometers per second, and can almost hit at launch without delay or trajectory, meeting the high-precision requirements for striking small unmanned aerial vehicles. At the same time, the reaction time is short, and it can intercept suddenly discovered aerial targets. When intercepting multiple targets, the conversion speed is fast. Taking a laser anti drone system purchased by Saudi Arabia as an example, the system has an effective range of 4 kilometers and can complete target conversion in just 6 seconds during interception. It has shot down 13 drones in one actual battle. Widely used. The power of laser weapons is adjustable. At low power, laser weapons only need to cover the target with laser to achieve interference and blindness to the target optoelectronic equipment, achieving the effect of "soft killing"; At high power, high-energy lasers concentrate a large amount of thermal radiation at a single point, causing damage to the target structure. They can burn through several millimeters of steel plates at a long distance, directly destroying the target structure and achieving "hard killing". Despite the many advantages of laser weapons against drones, there are still many technical challenges that need to be overcome. Firstly, laser weapons are greatly affected by weather factors. Under special weather conditions such as rain, snow, fog, and haze, the beam undergoes losses when passing through dust and impurities in the atmosphere, affecting its range and power. Secondly, high-power laser weapons have high requirements for energy storage systems, requiring large energy storage platforms to provide high instantaneous power, resulting in existing laser weapons being relatively large in size. Finally, the existing laser weapon systems have a short range and a small protection coverage area, making them unable to undertake large-scale anti drone missions. In the arena of weapons, it has always been a saying that "the road is one foot high, the magic is one foot high". In the confrontation with drones, it is believed that laser weapons can ultimately solve the problems of miniaturization and portability. By being mounted on various combat platforms and integrated into the air defense system, they become a powerful weapon against drones. (Lai Xin She)
Edit：Luo yu Responsible editor：Zhou shu
Source：PLA Daily
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