Navy’s powerful laser weapons to be rolled out five years early
Use of the cutting-edge Dragonfire technology is brought forward amid growing threat of conflicts
A LASER capable of shooting down enemy drones and missiles will be on Royal Navy warships by 2027 amid the growing threat of conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
The £10 a shot Dragonfire weapon could be used even sooner in Ukraine, as the military fast-tracks the “cutting-edge” technology.
The laser has been sped up by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in response to the rising threat of drone attacks in Ukraine and Russia, the Government has announced.
Scientists at the UK’S Porton Down defence laboratory (DSTL) have worked with industry experts in recent months to transform the laser weapon from a lab experiment to almost battlefield-ready.
Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, said on Thursday on a trip to the Dragonfire lab that the weapon, which can hit a £1 coin from a kilometre away, “could have huge ramifications”.
The weapon’s route to the battlefield has been sped up as a consequence of “two big conflicts”, he added, saying delays to the rollout of emerging weapons technologies is the “biggest waste of money in defence”.
“Every time there’s a delay, there’s a cost attached,” he said.
“What I want to do is speed up what would usually be a very lengthy process, possibly up to 10 years, down to a much shorter timeframe and get it deployed, potentially on ships and potentially on land.”
Mr Shapps said the UK is planning to add Dragonfire to its arsenal by 2027, but is working to see if it can send prototypes to Ukraine sooner – even if they are not 100 per cent refined.
“I’m absolutely certain that what we’ve got going on here is very special, and a level that other countries are unlikely to be replicating because it’s so cutting-edge,” he said.
“The product itself is genuinely years ahead.”
The weapon works by focusing 37 channels of 1.5 kw laser beams, arranged in a hexagonal array, and combining them with mirrors to merge and amplify the power, a physics phenomenon called constructive interference.
Tim Kendall, a DSTL senior laser physicist who helped build Dragonfire, said this creates “a perfect laser beam” which can be fired out through a telescopic lens.
The weapon is invisible and silent as the wavelength of the light is about one micron, which can not be seen by human eyes and is close to the infrared spectrum of light.
Trials of the weapon, made with an almost entirely bespoke guidance system and off-the-shelf laser parts, have destroyed drones and caused mortars to explode in less than five seconds.
It is hoped the laser can hit drones at a fraction of the cost to launch intercepting missiles, which can reach tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Dragonfire travels at the speed of light and its range is still classified. It instantly turns the surface of metal into a 3,000C plasma and can burn through sheet metal, fuselage and weapons in seconds.
The system has been built with the intention of destroying drones, which the Israel and Ukraine conflicts have highlighted as the latest frontier in modern warfare.
But Mr Shapps believes the system is powerful enough to neutralise faster-moving projectiles, such as ballistic missiles.
“It’s not just the slow drones at 120 knots. It should be capable, ultimately, of taking down expensive incoming missiles as well,” he said.
While the technology is not ready to be deployed in battle, Mr Shapps admitted that he is holding talks with military scientists about how the UK can drive Dragonfire forward to be used on the ground in conflict.
“2027 is the aim, but I want to look at every single aspect of this,” he said.
“There’s a live conflict going on in Europe right now for which we have a unique cutting edge weapon which could be helpful.
“Let’s say that it didn’t have to be 100 per cent perfect in order for Ukrainians, perhaps, to get their hands on it. 2027 is still the date, as of this moment, but of course, I’ll look to see what we can do to speed it up.”
‘There’s live conflict in Europe and we have a cuttingedge weapon that could be helpful’