UK’s DragonFire to take out Russian drones in Ukraine Death ray weapon

Interesting Engineering carries an article about the highly powerful British military laser which can shoot down aerial threats, Caliber.Az reprints the article.

The UK could become the first country to use a laser weapon in a real war. They plan to deploy a laser-directed energy weapon (LDEW) named DragonFire in Ukraine to shoot down Russian drones. 

DragonFire is a highly powerful British military laser that can shoot down aerial threats. It is currently under development. In January 2024, the UK military conducted its first successful test during which the laser successfully took down an aerial target.

Previously, the military expected DragonFire to be available by 2032. However, in a recent interaction with journalists, the UK Defense Secretary, Grant Shapps said the weapon is now likely to be ready for use by 2027. 

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has introduced some reforms to advance government procurement of DragonFire.  

“I’ve taken the opportunity to arrange additional conversations with colleagues about whether we could speed it up even faster, very much using the integrated procurement model of saying there’s a war on,” Shapps said.

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, can we do any better – but 2027 is still the date as of this moment. But of course, I’ll look to see what we can do to speed up,” he added.

What is DragonFire capable of? 

DragonFire isn’t the first LDEW. The US has been developing and testing laser weapons for years. However, to this date, such a weapon is never used outside of military trials. 

Such weapons shoot an intense beam of light at their targets at lightning speeds. The beam can tear apart and burn the target into many pieces. This is similar to how laser weapon shots are portrayed in many Hollywood movies. 

DragonFire is not just powerful but also super accurate when it comes to shooting targets. For instance, it can destroy a 1 pound coin from a distance of one kilometer. Moreover, it can take down aerial targets faster and at a much lower cost than missiles.  

For instance, while a single missile can cost anywhere thousands of millions of dollars, one laser shot from DragonFire will cost less than $13 (10 pounds). 

This means that using the laser weapons for 10 seconds will cost the military the same amount a household spends on using their heater for one hour, according to MoD.

All these factors make DragonFire an ideal candidate for shooting down Russian drones hovering over Ukraine. However, the real question is… 

Can Ukraine afford to wait till 2027? 

As of February 2024, nearly 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory is now under the control of Russia. The country is running out of soldiers and weapons, and some experts including veterans and military analysts warn that Ukraine may lose the war either in 2024 or by early 2025.

“We are seeing Russia batter away at the front line, employing a five-to-one advantage in artillery, ammunition, and a surplus of people reinforced by the use of newish weapons,” Richard Barrons, ex-commander of UK’s joint forces, told BBC.

However, this situation can change if Ukraine receives timely help from other countries.  Nick Reynolds and Jack Watling, two military analysts at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said:

“If Ukraine’s partners continue to provide sufficient ammunition and training support…to enable the blunting of Russian attacks in 2024, then Russia is unlikely to achieve significant gains in 2025. If Russia lacks the prospect of gains in 2025…then it follows that it will struggle to force Kyiv to capitulate by 2026.”

Currently, Russian forces are constantly damaging the power stations in Ukraine. These are not random attacks but a well-thought strategy because if the Russians destroyed the electric grid, Ukraine wouldn’t have the power in the future to use weapons like DragonFire.

For now, it seems like Ukraine is not in a position to wait, given its pressing needs.