Let loose the lasers. After some fairly rapid development, both South Korea and Ukraine recently announced their militaries were deploying lasers to active duty units.
South Korea
In South Korea, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said a system called Cheongwang, or Skylight in Korean, is now deployed with front-line units in Seoul.
Made by Hanwha, the Skylight went into mass production in July 2024. For less than $1.50, or about 2,000 won, the 20kW laser energy weapon system is designed to take down smaller drones and is effective to a range of around 2 to 3 kilometers, or a little less than two miles.
Officials with South Korea’s Ministry of Defense said the Skylight achieved 100% effectiveness during testing. However, the system does have limitations.
For now, it’s a fixed-in-place system. It can’t take down ICBMs and isn’t designed to counter a drone swarm. But future variants of the Skylight will include a stronger laser mounted to a truck. So, potentially, targets like ICBMs and aircraft could be taken down for a few dollars per engagement.
Ukraine
In Ukraine, though, the military claims to already have this capability. Col. Vadym Sukharevsky, the commander of the country’s unmanned systems forces, recently told a group of reporters at a defense conference, Ukraine is already deploying its Tryzub laser system.
The Tryzub, or Trident, can reportedly take down small aircraft at distances greater than two kilometers, or about 1.25 miles.
The assertion by Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces commander is notable, not just because the laser-touting club of countries is still fairly small, around half a dozen depending on whether you believe all the claims, but because the country just formed the unit six months ago.
Ukraine was likely able to make swift headway in the laser weapons arena because it based its design on “UK prototypes,” which probably means the 50kW Dragon Fire laser. Dragon Fire downed its first drone in early 2024.
Israel’s Iron Beam, made by Rafael, is another laser weapon in active development. Rafael successfully tested the Iron Beam numerous times, and Israel is expected to field it sometime in 2025.
Rafael also partnered with Lockheed Martin in the U.S. to deploy the Iron Beam on a variety of vehicles. The Iron Beam uses a 100kW laser, five times more powerful than what South Korea is deploying.
China says it has a counter-drone laser called the “Silent Hunter.” Russia says it has a laser that can blind a satellite, but Moscow doesn’t have much in the way of counter-drone laser systems.
Marine Corps officers told Straight Arrow News in 2023 Marines in the field need three systems to have one operational laser. Environmental factors like dust and the wear-and-tear of forward deployment just wreaked havoc on the laser’s sensitive components.
But the wars in Ukraine and the air defense battles waged in the Red Sea proved just how necessary directed energy weapons are in modern warfare.
So, the fact countries are now moving from the research and development stage to the deployment stage shows just how quickly solutions can be found to complicated problems with the right motivating factors and enough money.
