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- DragonFire laser protection system has simply been examined
- It may shoot down drones shifting at 400mph with unimaginable accuracy
- With a contract signed for $415 million (£316 million), it will be on board a UK destroyer in 2027, with a quickly accelerated deployment timeframe
DragonFire, a brand new laser protection system, has been efficiently examined within the UK and proved its accuracy for taking down even fast-moving drones, with a contract now in place to supply the Royal Navy with the weapon.
As Tom’s {Hardware} reviews, the UK authorities simply introduced the $415 million (£316 million) contract with MBDA that’ll make sure the laser-directed power weapon (LDEW) system is on board a Royal Navy Sort 45 destroyer by 2027 (5 years forward of the initially anticipated timeframe).
The latest check runs of DragonFire on the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Hebrides vary witnessed the laser taking out drones flying at as much as 650km/h (simply over 400mph). The MoD tells us that this LDEW can hit a Pound coin (slightly smaller than a US Quarter) from a kilometer away, which is a mind-boggling feat.
This is not nearly accuracy, although, however price effectivity, because the laser prices round £10 per shot (roughly $13). Examine that to the value tag hooked up to a missile for intercepting a drone, which “price upwards of a whole bunch of hundreds of kilos per shot,” the MoD notes. And clearly, when you think about the potential scale of drone assaults, that shortly mounts up.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Trade, Luke Pollard MP, acknowledged: “This high-power laser will see our Royal Navy at the vanguard of innovation in NATO, delivering a cutting-edge functionality to assist defend the UK and our allies on this new period of menace.”
The contract to deploy DragonFire will contain the creation of some 590 jobs within the UK.
Joint effort
The DragonFire trials had been performed by the UK’s Defence Science and Know-how Laboratory, along side MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ – the latter two being the companions who’re working with MBDA to develop the system for readiness in 2027.
In a press launch from final yr, MBDA defined, “The UK DragonFire programme brings collectively the most effective of UK trade. It leverages MBDA’s many years of weapon system manufacturing experience, Leonardo’s place as a world-leading authority in laser expertise, electro-optics, and superior focusing on, and QinetiQ’s expertise as the one UK firm to efficiently develop and safely function high-energy laser sources within the UK and coherent beam-combining expertise.”
Whereas solely the primary ship match is confirmed, different Sort 45 destroyers (there are six of those Daring-class anti-aircraft and anti-missile vessels within the Royal Navy fleet) are anticipated to get DragonFire sooner or later past 2027.
Potential drawbacks to the laser system are the climate and doable atmospheric interference, and the true check shall be how DragonFire performs in real-world situations on board that first destroyer.
The opposite apparent caveat right here is the quantity of energy wanted for this LDEW, which limits DragonFire to installations the place there’s loads of wattage on faucet, equivalent to on board a ship, versus a nimbler armored military automobile on land – however extra cellular deployments are deliberate finally.
In the event you’re curious as to what the ability consumption of this laser is, a earlier trial at Porton Down in October 2022 used “within the order of 50kW of energy” we’re informed.
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