US laser weapon faced the main enemy: what will prevent the drones of China and the Russian Federation.

The De M-Shorad laser weapon system will be tested in the Middle East in the conditions of sand and dust storms. The laser weapon installed on the US Army vehicles was vulnerable to ordinary dust. Milital writes about how the military is going to solve this problem. Recently, 4 prototypes of the system of directional energy shunting (DE M-sarad), as well as the Strrestker armored personnel carrier, equipped with 50-kilowatted laser weapons, were sent to the Middle East for real tests.

Although the De M-SHORAD system has already been tested at US military, the central command proposed to test them in more difficult conditions, such as dust storms and other atmospheric phenomena that can make any weapon of directional energy ineffective. The fact is that substances in the atmosphere - especially water vapor, sand, dust, salt particles, smoke and other air pollutants - absorb and scatter light, and atmospheric turbulence can unbutton the laser beam.

This is not the first time the army tests the laser weapon system in an unpredictable operational environment. But the deployment of the 50-kilowatted De M-SHORAD system is extremely important for Americans because they are trying to introduce a air defense system that could resist the swarms of small drones, because the classic air defense system against them is ineffective.

Moreover, laser weapons became the basis of the updated air defense strategy of the nearby radius of the US Department of Defense after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and one of China's opposition methods. The De M-SHORAD laser system is designed on the basis of an experimental high-energy laser with a 5 kilowatt Mehel, as well as a 50-kilot multi-purpose MMHEL high-power laser, which received the code name "Guardian".

As part of the budget request for the 2024 financial year, the army invited about $ 111 million to the Congress to finance research and development of laser systems and vehicles for them. Last year, the army received $ 197 million for the same developments, which resulted in four de M-sarad prototypes. However, the military does not want all this money to be waste, if it turns out that laser weapons can only be used on clear sunny days.

DE M-Shoard is not the only laser weapon in the US Army Air Force: recently the military has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for the supply of 300-kilowatted Valkyrie laser laser weapons, which can be installed on a heavy tactical complex of extended mobility. This platform will provide significant protection against the same rockets and drones, which is assigned to which its 50-kilot de M-shoord is assigned, as well as from other serious threats, such as winged missiles.