A laser weapon called Dragonfire, which was originally planned by 2027, can acquire accelerated production, according to Grant Shaps, Minister of Defense of Great Britain. This will allow it to be used on front lines in Ukraine.
While visiting the Porton Down Military Research Center in Salisbury, Chapsa stated that he would consider the possibility of even more acceleration of laser weapons production.
"I decided to accelerate the production of Dragonfire laser system, because given the two major conflicts, one in sea and one in Europe, the appearance of a weapon that can destroy drones is of great importance," Shappps said.
It is noted that Dragonfire can shoot with a hexagonal lattice from 37 channels of laser rays with a power of 1.5 kW, combined with mirrors to increase power. Tim Kendal, Senior Laser Physicist of the Laboratory of Defense Science and Technology, which participated in the creation of Dragonfire, claims that this weapon creates a "ideal laser ray" that can be fired through a telescopic lens.
The UK Ministry of Defense stated that laser weapons can affect the size of the size, as a small coin, at a distance of kilometer. The weapon itself is invisible to the human eye, since the wavelength of light is very small.
Dragonfire development cost £ 100 million, or about $ 125 million. Laser weapons can be a long -term and cost -effective alternative to other air defense, since "using it within 10 seconds is equivalent to the use of a conventional heater within an hour."
