Betting big on directed energy weapons technology for tactical defence
As drones and missiles pose new threats, militaries are turning to cost-effective laser weapons.
Companies that are into defence production are trying more intensively to develop cost-effective, high-energy laser weapons, according to a report in The Financial Times (FT). This stepped-up effort comes as militaries worldwide are looking for more efficient ways to battle new, low-cost threats, such as drones and missiles.
These laser systems provide an affordable and dependable option to manage these modern security challenges. Well-known defence contractors across the world, such as RTX (US), QinetiQ (UK) and MBDA (Europe), are investing huge amounts in cutting-edge technologies earlier deemed unreal and the stuff of which science fiction is made.
Developing weapons that make use of laser beams to cut through metal and cripple electronic appliances is now the name of the game. Governments are looking for cheaper solutions to deal with the growing number of low-cost drones and missiles.
Earlier this year, British and American ships had sunk in millions of dollars into making missiles for downing drones launched by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. This highlights the growing problem of using expensive weapons to counter much cheaper drone threats.
Defence industry experts say the increasing use of drones in battlegrounds has revealed a 'cost imbalance', meaning that defending against these threats is often much more expensive than launching the attacks.
According to James Black, a defence expert at the non-profit research group, Rand Europe, quoted by FT, deploying a missile worth $1 million to down a drone that costs only $100 or $1,000 is impractical and expensive beyond compare.
For many years now, the US has been conducting research on 'directed energy weapons' (DEWs), such as lasers and high-power microwave systems. Former US president Ronald Reagan had much tom-tommed his 'Star Wars' defence programme.
Although lasers have been used for simpler jobs for a long time, such as measuring distances or temporarily blinding pilots in combat, they were not technologically capable enough as weapons of war. However, with recent breakthroughs -- such as improvements in computing, optical systems and fibre optics -- countries are beginning to look more seriously at lasers as effective military tools. These technological advancements have made it possible to use lasers in ways not practical before, especially in defence systems.
According to Black, traditional defence systems, such as the surface-to-air missiles that were used by the US-made Patriot system extensively used during Gulf War-I in 1990-'91, have morphed into very advanced and complex setups.
However, this sophistication comes at a high cost. Black says the thousands of cheap drones being used daily in Ukraine are skewing the 'cost-utility ratio' even further.
This year, the US Army put into operation high-energy lasers to down drones in the Middle East. This marks an important milestone for the burgeoning laser weapons industry. Armies in quite a few countries, including the UK, France, Russia, India, South Korea and China, have also been investing in developing DEWs and advancing this technology for military use.
The UK's DragonFire
In April this year, the ministry of defence in the UK said it would expedite the development of its DragonFire laser weapon, which is now set to be deployed on Royal Navy ships by 2027—five years ahead of plan. The ministry announced that the DragonFire laser would be able to hit any air-borne target within sight at a cost of only about £10 per shot.
It would be so accurate as to be able to hit a coin from a kilometre away.
In a significant test led by the MBDA -- and including QinetiQ and Leonardo -- conducted in January this year, which successfully fired at targets in the air, the project team admitted that, when the contract to create a prototype laser was first signed seven years ago, success was elusive.
Mike Mew, tactical strike director at MBDA, added that the test was a first in Europe for successfully getting a laser system of this power and capability up and running, according to FT.
The UK's ministry of defence will sink in £350 million in the fast-track project by April 2027, depending upon the Labour government's review of the effort.
The team of 150 engineers and scientists from the three companies working on DragonFire is focussed on making the system more dependable and durable, according to Mew. They must also find a way to successfully install it on a ship.
The primary challenge in using a laser weapon is to make sure that the beam stays focussed long enough to hit its target effectively.
From KALI to DURGA
India has also been researching DEWs, which are becoming increasingly important as they can effectively counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and even pit their strength against hypersonic weapons in future. India's interest in DEWs began mainly with the secret 'Tri-Netra' project led by the Laser Science and Technology Centre (LaSTEC), Delhi.
As far back as in 2001, LaSTEC had successfully demonstrated its technology at the Hindon airbase, firing a 100 kW laser beam and completely destroying a steel-plated target.
Since 2018, LaSTEC's work has gradually been distributed between the Hyderabad-based Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS) and the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh. TBRL's work was later commissioned to the Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and its unit, CHESS, are leading development projects for DEWs in India. Other organizations, such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Army Design Bureau (ADB), are also contributing to various DEW projects. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has been handed over the task of manufacturing and supplying these weapons.
BEL has successfully developed a 2-kW laser-based DEW designed to counter such emerging threats as drones and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). There are also reports that products from secret programmes, such as Kilo Ampere Linear Injector (KALI) and Directionally Unrestricted Ray-Gun Array (DURGA) have already been introduced into the armed forces.
The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru.