10 dollars for a shot: US will apply laser weapons in battle against swarms drones

The US Army placed two laser installations based on the Locust system from Bluehalo. The US Army has officially launched a couple of high -energy lasers of 20 kilowatts abroad to destroy enemy UAVs. The exact location of the complexes is not reported, writes Milital. The P-Hel (Pair of High-Energy Lasers-a pair of high-energy lasers-ed. ) Was created on the basis of the Locust laser weapon system Bluehalo. The first tool was put abroad in November 2022, and the second - this year.

According to the Army General, who is responsible for the fight against drones, several different systems of laser weapons are rated in the areas of responsibility of the US Central Command, the African Command of the United States and the Indo-Pacific Command of the United States. The prompt use of HEL marks the first publicly recognized use of US military active laser weapons for air defense.

However, the army refused to confirm whether the P-Hel managed to destroy at least one drone in a real battle. Laser weapons work by converting electricity into an intense stream of photons that can be burned by various materials, such as carbon fiber drone, rocket or mortar or even a small boat body.

The P-Hel test shows how the Operator uses the XBOX controller to change the position of the laser lattice installed on the pallet, then scans the sky in search of the approaching goals before targeting the moving quadcopter and then lights up and falls.

Although the service refused to clarify where the P-Hel systems were launched, referring to operational security, the main representative of the US Department of Defense stated that the weapons of the directional energy is part of the defense arsenal of the US Armed Forces in the Middle East.

The use of P-Hel is due to the fact that the US military seeks to strengthen their air defense capabilities to protect military personnel abroad not only with the help of ammunition such as Standard Missile-2 missile worth $ 2. 1 million and Stinger rocket worth $ 480,000 . The army is interested in applying effective, inexpensive solutions to combat drones. For comparison, the cost of one laser shot is estimated at a maximum of $ 10. And military commanders think not only about lasers.

In March this year, the American General called for legislators to consider accelerating the development of weapons of directional energy, which can cover the territory with powerful electromagnetic radiation, disrupting several goals at the same time - to fill the breaks in the US Air Defense in the Middle East. Pentagon currently spends about $ 1 billion a year on weapons and has 31 different systems at different stages of development, most of which are laser.

Earlier they wrote that scientists have found out which laser weapon is effective against hypersonic. Chinese researchers have proven in practice that damage from a low -power laser removes a hypersonic rocket failure in seconds. It was also reported that the laser weapon of the United States would not be so easy to knock down 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.