Putin’s new laser to fend off missiles

Russia has deployed new laser weapons designed to destroy incoming missiles, aircraft and drones. The Peresvet system, which is named after a medieval Orthodox warrior-monk, had become fully operational on Sunday and Yury Borisov, the deputy defence minister, said it could take out targets ‘‘within fractions of a second’’. Viktor Murakhovsky, a weapons expert, said: ‘‘Its main task will probably be to destroy the warheads of self-homing missiles.’’ The US navy is testing a new laser weapons system that could go into service next spring.