South Korea is beginning the mass production of a low-cost laser weapon that has successfully shot down small drones during testing, the country’s key arms agency said Thursday.
The laser weapon, called Block-I, “can precisely strike small unmanned aerial vehicles and multicopters at close range,” a news release from South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.
The release did not give a cost for the weapon, but said each shot fired would only cost about $1.50.
Imagery supplied by the agency appears to show a weapon around the size of a shipping container with a laser mounted on top and what appears to be a radar or tracking device mounted on one side of the platform.
They better send some to Ukraine.
Make Putler happy.
It’d probably be great testing for them too.
Will they be mounted on sharks?
They seriously need to call the platform sharks.
Best we can do are mutated sea bass
Are they at least ill-tempered?
There is no doubt that lasers will play a bigger and bigger role in combat systems, especially in a layered air defense networks.
But it’s dishonest how these articles only cite the cost of electricity. It would be like citing the cost of a single shell of artillery to imply that is the only expenditure when the system is used.
Just like a Howitzer, the parts on lasers experience wear and tear, but to replace them cost a hell of a lot more than a new barrel.
Yes, in the long-term lasers will be more cost-effective than ground to air missile interceptors*, but any reporting that is clearly trying to make an argument for cost savings, should have the integrity to get figures that factor in battlefield maintenance of those systems.
*When applicable. Lasers will not remove the need for any existing systems, but will provide a cost savings by providing additional options for the air defense system’s operators.
When discussing deterrents against drone swarms the cost per “round” is the correct metric…
The cost per round is a lot more than just power generation when talking about lasers.
The wear on tear on lasers is a lot different than other systems and when the case is being made for their cost effectiveness they need to be factored in, instead of the highly misleading figures that only prices out electricity.
I mean, sure that’s fair, and the figures could be updated to include that. But the order of magnitude difference between this and explosive ammunition is 10,000x or more. Unless these are single fire, I’m not convinced it changes the calculus
What about the advantages of the logistics of those “rounds”. Seems like a huge savings.
What’s the kW or MW class of laser? If it’s too low, it could be ineffective against even tinfoil wrapped quad copters.
Inb4 flying disco balls!
Imagine getting a massive burn because the drone trying to bomb you reflected the laser your colleague used to try to shoot it down.
This screams UFO encounter.
Might still be powerful enough to blind the optics, which would effectively cripple them. Without a video feed neither FPV drones nor grenade-dropping ones would have the necessary precision to be effective.
Unless they’re gps guided, or they can turn their camera away from the laser source in time.
GPS wouldn’t be effective at all for drones dropping munitions on infantry moving around on the battlefield, nor on FPV drones trying to fly into moving tanks or other vehicles.
And how do you turn a drone away from an infrared beam of light that would damage the drones optics almost instantly? You’d have to spot the laser system from hundreds of yards away, recognize it’s aimed at your drone, and turn away before the laser is fired. And then what? Just avoid turning your drone back the way you want to go, hoping another strategically positioned laser you didn’t see doesnt fire from a different direction?
You’d need to know where the laser system is, yes. You could do that by having a first done get shot at to reveal the position so the others know where not to look.
Gps would still be effective against stationary targets, but gps jamming would probably be very effective.
A buck fifty a shot at the rate I pay is about 12
KwhkwH 😉 of power. That laser has got to be way up there in power.kWh
(I’m sorry, I have nitpicking issues.)
What a coincidence! I have picnicking issues.
I love you
Fixed
Oh you monster.
Yeah I’m no light expert but can’t they just make shilding and filters for this sort of attack vector?
Depends on the wavelength. Standard mirrors don’t always do mirror things at wavelengths far outside the visible spectrum.
Part of the advantages of UAVs is that you can deploy a lot of them cheaply with stuff you buy on eBay. While eBay does sell some of the more exotic mirrors for CO2 laser cutters (which are far-IR wavelengths), you couldn’t buy a lot of them to cover a single drone. It’d cut into the cost advantage, and would also weigh it down a lot.
My initial reaction was that it’s going to make drones more cost prohibited. Logistics of only deploying unshielded drones where there aren’t lasers will probably be a thing now too.
Even if they can, it will decrease the payload somewhat, and as the lasers get better the shielding will have to get stronger.
It’ll forever be a back and forth thing
Wouldn’t that cut it’s communication though?
My coworker and I literally tried wrapping an access point in aluminum foil to replicate poor connectivity. It didn’t do shit. Even completely lined a cardboard box and put it inside with zero change.
I don’t think so? Radios don’t care is a laser is shining at them.
The tinfoil, not the laser
You could just stick the antenna through the foil. Antennas are just pieces of wire, which can also be made from shiny metal.
Oh okay, yeah you’d probably leave the top un-foiled for the radio
The tinfoil would stop it.
Good, now give some to Ukraine.
Imagery supplied by the agency appears to show a weapon around the size of a shipping container with a laser mounted on top and what appears to be a radar or tracking device mounted on one side of the platform.
So, 30 million for the setup and deployment but 1.50 per drone. Plus it is huge and unweildy.
Gonna need a lot of drones to make that more cost effective than another drone with a stick or net, both of which have been effective in the defense of Ukraine.
lol
This is probably an early step towards a man portable setup so I’m just joking about the focus on the cost to fire.
Agreed, this is definitely first gen research.
Probably 2nd or 3rd gen, laser weapons have been in the works for decades.
There’s a rheinmetall video on YouTube, it’s a few years old already. Definitely not first gen research, and it’s good there’s competition already
Lmao Ukraine is about to become devoid of birds
Any radar sensitive enough to pick up drones is going to have an insane number of false positives
So would this potentially reset the battlefield and negate the disruptive changes drones had brought to it? Or does it just mean more drones and stronger drones?
Probably a cat and mouse game
I think it will just make drones more expensive as they put in systems to try and counter this tech.
Shotgun, camera, 2 servos and and an esp32 is all you need
Wait…
Are drones powered by kitties?
I hope this works how it sounds. The development of fighter planes, missiles and bombs, and drones has pretty grossly given an edge to invading militaries, able to quickly enter territory and do tremendous amounts of damage, especially to civilian life.
Being a bulky, heavy weapon with a reliance on a lot of electricity should hopefully encourage this for defensive use, and if it can keep all those flying invaders in check this could be a boon against war.
Should have watched this
I hope it works well
Fiber laser, ceramic disc laser, CO2 laser?
How much for a miss?
Well assuming one with explosives can take out a single person, they get a 10% accuracy (number pulled out of my ass), and a VSL (value of statistical life) of 1.5 million you get 150,000 USD.
Really throws off the cost function when the false negative penalty is a million times bigger.
