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.
The SK version is bulky and heavy because it’s their 1st Gen however other countries already have versions that are significantly smaller, lighter, and fully mobile.
Actually what im seeing from other countries are even larger and heavier technologies. I mean all of these can be mobilized as low speed ground vehicles, a far cry from the mobility and invasive potential of aircraft. Its the energy requirement thats the kicker, and the weight of batteries. Which is why we’re only seeing this technology being deployed as stationary anti air defense. Its a nice bonus that lasers have to travel in a straight line so we dont have to worry about long range trajectory attacks like with ICBM’s.
The only downside im seeing so far is surprisingly limited range hampering its ability to handle incoming supersonic targets.
Someone should let the US Army know. 😎
The US already has a DEW unit that fits in a UTV (Side by Side) for shooting down smaller drones…and they had it back in 2022.
The US also has a more powerful palletized version that fits in the bed of a pickup truck.
Then there’s the even heavier duty DE M-SHORAD capable knocking down UAVs and Mortar Rounds. It was tested and approved in 2021 and the first units of this are already deployed.