The government has said it is committed to accelerating the development and deployment of directed energy weapons to counter low-cost drones.
The commitment was set out by the Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, Lord Coaker, in response to a written question from the Labour peer Lord Spellar, who had asked when directed energy weapons designed to combat low-cost drones would be available to the UK armed forces.
Coaker said the government was “committed to accelerating the development and deployment of directed energy weapons” to counter low-cost drones, describing the United Kingdom as “a world leader” in research on high-energy lasers and radio frequency weapons, working with key allies who share its aims in the field.
Directed energy weapons have become one of the most sought-after answers to the drone problem, offering a way to engage targets at the speed of light at a cost per shot measured in pounds rather than the hundreds of thousands of pounds that conventional interceptor missiles can cost, an economics that has become central to the search for affordable defences against the mass drone attacks now seen in Ukraine and increasingly threatening warships, bases and land forces well beyond it.
As a concrete marker of that effort, Coaker pointed to DragonFire, the British-developed high-energy laser, the first example of which is due to be installed on a Type 45 destroyer in 2027, “five years ahead of the original plan”, a deployment he said would make the United Kingdom “the first European NATO nation to operationally deploy advanced laser directed energy technology”. While that first system will go to sea, directed energy is being pursued across the armed forces, the technology equally relevant to protecting land forces and fixed sites from the same cheap drones.
The stated commitment to accelerate directed energy also sits alongside a separate effort, widely reported by this website and others, to speed up the protection of Royal Navy warships against drones, two distinct strands that together point to a push to close the gap between the threat now posed by cheap unmanned systems and the defences currently fielded to meet it.
Will believe it when it is fitted and working. I really hope so however.
I’ve gained $17,240 only within four weeks by comfortably working part-time from home. Immediately when I had lost my last business, I was very troubled and thankfully I’ve located this project now in this way I’m in a position to receive thousand USD directly from home. Each individual certainly can do this easy work & make more greenbacks online by visiting…
following website—.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.—>>> PAYAtHOME1.COM
Nice if something goes right.
Ah but they’ve committed to it, which means wait five years then fit every ship in the last week.
The army are most at risk from these drones. Some kind of vehical mounted High Energy Laser System needs producing.
The problem is power consumption, which is much easier to solve on a ship. Better range and/or faster defeat needs more power, more power needs either more storage or production, more power storage or production needs a bigger vehicle.
On a T45 you have two gas turbines (essentially Trent jet engines) producing 21MW each and 3 diesel generators producing 3MW each – in other words, plenty of power. To do that on a land based platform you’d probably need something the size of a MAN SV 6×6 fitted with a generator, some kind of power storage (flywheel or battery), and the laser, not to mention any control systems or comms, as it’s presumably linked into the air surveillance system and not standalone.
committed to accelerating the development and deployment of directed energy weapons to counter low-cost drones., thats means some time this centry, what a true government stsatemeant conforming nothing,
Could just use a big Magnifying glass.
That’s two brilliant Ideas I’ve had today. 😊
I’ve got a torch..
One of the advantages of directed energy weapons, especially in regards to home defence of say a dockyard in the middle of a city is that it does not follow the what goes up must come down rule.. obviously the drone will come down.. but the munitions you are firing at it will not.
Fitted for but not with photons
I’ve gained $17,240 only within four weeks by comfortably working part-time from home. Immediately when I had lost my last business, I was very troubled and thankfully I’ve located this project now in this way I’m in a position to receive thousand USD directly from home. Each individual certainly can do this easy work & make more greenbacks online by visiting
following website—.,.,.,.,.—>>> JobatHome1.Com
Ah…something else we are a world leader in….having lots of programs but not buying anything.
Dragonfire should already fitted and dozens more ordeted for all ships.
AA