U.K. DEVELOPS LASER SYSTEM THAT CAN HELP UKRAINE COUNTER RUSSIAN DRONES
A new British military laser could be rushed on to the front line in Ukraine to take down Russian drones, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has suggested.
The DragonFire weapon, which was expected to be ready for deployment by 2027 at the latest, could have “huge ramifications” for the conflict in Europe, Shapps said.
New reforms aimed at speeding up procurement mean the laser, originally set to be rolled out in 2032, will be operational five years earlier than planned, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Speaking to journalists on a visit to the Porton Down military research hub in Salisbury, Shapps said he would look to see if the pace could be increased even further “in order for Ukrainians perhaps to get their hands on it”.
“I’ve come down to speed up the production of the DragonFire laser system because I think given that there’s two big conflicts on, one sea-based, one in Europe; this could have huge ramifications to have a weapon capable particularly of taking down drones,” Shapps said.
“And so what I want to do is speed up what would usually be a very lengthy development procurement process, possibly up to 10 years, based on my conversations this morning, to a much shorter time frame to get it deployed, potentially on ships, incoming drones, and potentially on land. Again, incoming drones, but it doesn’t take much imagination to see how that could be helpful in Ukraine.”
Laser-directed energy weapons use an intense light beam to cut through their target and can strike at the speed of light.
The MoD hopes the DragonFire system will offer a low-cost alternative to missiles by carrying out tasks such as shooting down attack drones. It has been developed by MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
The new procurement model, which comes into effect this week, is aimed at speeding up the process of getting cutting-edge developments in military capability such as DragonFire out on to the field. “In a more dangerous world, our approach to procurement is shifting with it. We need to be more urgent, more critical and more global,” Shapps added.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur