Great Britain has announced the first successful tests of the DragonFire Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) laser weapon.
This is reported on the website of the government of the United Kingdom.
DragonFire was tested on a test site in Scotland in the Hebrides.
The range of the system is classified. It is stated that this is a "line-of-sight weapon capable of hitting any visible target." It strikes with a direct beam and can hit targets at the speed of light. The systemʼs accuracy is described as pinpoint — the weapon can hit a £1 coin from a kilometer away. The DragonFire laser "cuts through" the target, destroying its structure.
It is stated that shooting with DragonFire is ten times cheaper than using high-precision ammunition. A shot for 10 seconds is equivalent in cost to using a conventional heater for an hour. The cost of laser operation does not exceed £10 (476 hryvnias).
- The DragonFire development program, in which £100 million (4.7 billion hryvnias) was invested, is still ongoing, and the system will be improved. The project is led by the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) on behalf of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain, and the companies MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ have become partners.