Israel’s military used a high-powered laser to take out drones in combat, the Israeli Defense Ministry said, a significant step toward laser technology being used to intercept real-life threats on the battlefield.
Two laser air defense systems have intercepted “dozens and dozens” of threats, most of which were unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) launched by Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah from Lebanon, retired Brigadier General Daniel Gold, the head of defense research and development for the Israeli Defense Ministry, told Newsweek.
Israel first used a laser system in the early days of the war, Gold said. Israel launched a full-scale war on Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza following the organization’s unprecedented October 7 attacks in 2023, and battled Hamas-aligned Hezbollah over Israel’s northern border until a fragile ceasefire ended full-scale hostilities in November 2024.
Israel is one of several countries developing high-powered lasers to take out threats in the sky, most suited to intercepting cheap drones that would be incredibly expensive to shoot down with interceptor missiles.
While costing almost nothing to fire, the setup costs for these laser systems are huge. But interceptor missiles for Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome short-range air defense system cost tens of thousands of dollars each, racking up an eye-watering bill when defending against high numbers of targets.
Analysts say lasers, a type of directed energy weapon, can be very useful as part of a larger web of air defenses, able to knock out smaller, slower targets but vulnerable to bad weather conditions.
The U.S. military said in 2024 the Army had used lasers to intercept drones in the Middle East, but did not provide further details. The U.S. military has tested directed energy weapons in the Middle East, the commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michael Erik Kurilla, separately told lawmakers back in March 2024.
The Israeli Defense Ministry said the government, military and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems—Israel’s state-owned defense giant—had accelerated the development of “revolutionary” systems and achieved “outstanding” results.
It is a “major milestone,” Gold said.
Rafael’s chairman, Yuval Steinitz, said Israel was the “first country in the world to transform high-power laser technology into a fully operational system—and to execute actual combat interceptions.”
Rafael is also building the Iron Beam laser system, expected to come into service in the latter half of the year. “This system will fundamentally change the defense equation by enabling fast, precise, cost-effective interceptions, unmatched by any existing system,” said Rafael chief executive, Yoav Tourgeman.
The two deployed laser systems are lower-powered, more mobile and slightly less costly than the Iron Beam, Gold said.
The Israeli government published footage it said showed the laser systems in action during the war. One clip looks to show at least one fixed-wing drone falling from the air after one of the wings is damaged by a laser.
The footage is “entirely plausible,” said David Hambling, a U.K.-based weapons and technology expert.
“Drones are great targets for lasers because they are much smaller and more fragile than crewed aircraft and generally fly at slow speed without evading,” he told Newsweek. “This make sit possible to focus a laser on one for long enough to burn through the skin and cause real damage, which is exactly what the video appears to show.”
But with drone technology evolving at a rapid pace, they could end up fitted with countermeasures to make it much harder for lasers to intercept these targets, Hambling suggested.
The U.K. military said in April that British soldiers had used an “invisible radio-wave weapon” to knock out swarms of drones for the first time. Radio waves can be used as another type of directed energy weapon.
The U.K. is also developing a laser-directed energy weapon dubbed DragonFire.
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