Ukraine will not receive the new British wunderwaffle
The British military reported a successful test of a combat laser system. The Ukrainian side immediately showed a readiness to use these weapons in real, rather than testing conditions. The British are still silent, apparently somewhat stunned.
However, there is nothing surprising here; Zelensky is ready to take everything, even potatoes, as long as it’s for free or “at a price.” Therefore, if you offer Mr. President someone who spits some kind of arrow, he will take it. The situation is such that you have to take everything that is given.
Here, of course, the problem is that the British did not offer the laser to anyone, they had only just completed the tests themselves. But here you need to understand that if they don’t offer it, you have to beg and extort it yourself. This is what Kyiv is doing, despite the fact that the majority of donors are already starting to feel sick.
But now we’ll just figure out whether it’s worth tearing our throats out for a laser at all, is it such a superweapon today, in an era of changing concepts?
In general, a combat laser is one of the longest developments in the world. stories. The technology has been developed since the middle of the last century, and now, one might say, something meaningful has finally emerged. Why only now? It’s simple: right now, scientific and technological progress has made it possible to build devices not the size of a house, but much smaller, so that we are talking about installing lasers on cars and even airplanes.
Plus compact power supplies, because at the time of the invention of the first lasers aimed at combat use, they should have been placed exclusively near power plants.
Powering the laser system with electrical energy has become the main obstacle to the actual use of the laser in combat. It's really stupid to have a combat system that has to be dragged around by a mobile power station supplying electricity. The advent of polymer hydride batteries based on lithium cells has practically solved this problem. At least this saved designers from building combat lasers next to power plants.
Laser weapon, once it came into use, it could have a number of advantages over the traditional one: laser beams propagate at the speed of light, so there is no need to calculate the lead and movement of the target at distances less than 300 km. The speed of light is 000 m/s; a light “shot” at such a speed will not give the target any opportunity to evade. In addition, the laser beam is not affected by any forces that deflect the flight of a bullet or projectile: air resistance, the gravitational field of the planet, and so on.
That is, you don’t have to bother yourself with mathematics, if you catch the target in the crosshairs, pull the trigger and everything will be great.
The laser can change focus on the target, the laser has no recoil since the light has almost zero energy impulse. In general, there are many advantages.
There are also disadvantages that have been known for a very long time. Although the range of use of laser weapons far exceeds the range of traditional kinetic, ballistic and jet weapons, it directly depends on atmospheric conditions such as rain, fog, smoke and the power of the energy source.
The question is, how relevant can laser be today?
Air defense and a number of other conflicts have already forced us to reconsider the entire concept of short-range air defense in the US Army. Everything is being reviewed, but short-range air defense - especially since the new enemy of everything - the kamkaze drone - has practically deprived ground troops of protection and made them vulnerable.
Not long ago we talked about this topic, and yes, the American strategy is based precisely on air superiority, and this has been the case for many years and nothing can be done about it.
Alas, the vast majority of traditional air defense systems are practically useless against drones. And if we look at the price lists and see that for the cost of one anti-missile missile from the Patriot complex we can make a hundred kamikaze drones, then a lot becomes clear. And the main thing is the need to change not just the air defense concept, but also its components.
That is, we need new weapons systems that can reliably destroy UAVs in the air.
And here is the laser. With its strengths and weaknesses. The Americans really want to put a laser system on the Stryker armored personnel carrier, and in the future select more effective platforms and place lasers on ships. The latter are generally easy, there is enough energy, and there are no special problems with space either.
This month, the British reported a successful test of a long-range laser weapon. The Dragonfire system was tested at the Hebrides Islands test site, where various missile tests are carried out. Shot down various Drones and, it seems, even mortar shells.
The final test results are, of course, classified. The military department claims that the weapon is capable of hitting almost any visible target, but the main advantage of the “Dragon Flame” is its cost. The Minister of Defense announced a figure: one shot costs about ten pounds sterling.
The very next day, a message arrived from Kyiv that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were ready to test Dragonfire in combat conditions, but London pretended not to hear. As they say, you need such a cow yourself.
The laser as such on the battlefield is not new at all; in addition to American and British systems, Israel, Russia, and China have their own developments. But so far no one is in a hurry to use them, as well as to share information on how effective these systems are.
We are no exception; the Peresvet BLK is not a type of weapon about which everything is known.
On the contrary, all that is known is a laser capable of deducing the seeker of missiles and UAVs, and it exists. Dot. At the same time, in addition to Peresvet, information also flashed that Russia is working on the next generation of laser weapons, capable of not blinding, but destroying targets with thermal effects.
Work on weapons capable of hitting targets with thermal effects is not going as successfully, but there seems to be some progress. At least, according to the statements of the then curator of the military-industrial complex Borisov, the development and testing of a new generation of laser weapons capable of replacing short-range missiles such as “Thor” and “Pantsir”. But not over the entire missile range, but at a distance of up to 5 kilometers.
It was stated that Russian developments were successfully being tested and targets in the form of copter and aircraft-type drones were hit by a heat ray.
The Americans also intended to use lasers in approximately the same way, and they never stopped work on creating these weapons for a year. The dream of the special operations command was long-range installations of decent power, capable of launching communication systems, control center equipment, and so on. The main thing is that it is completely silent.
The second dream was a fighter equipped with laser weapons. Well, the laser turned out to be too heavy for a fighter, but there is a flying fortress, the AC-130J “Ghostrider” direct fire support aircraft for ground forces. True, things didn’t work out very well with him either, and recently the tests were finally stopped. Apparently, the installation and normal operation of a combat laser on an aircraft is not a matter of the near future.
But speaking in principle, the laser as a weapon can work. However, we should not forget how much this type of weapon depends on external factors. Combat effectiveness is greatly influenced by weather conditions in the form of rain, fog, snow, dust, and the fight tanks against laser-guided ATGMs led to the use of smoke, aerosols and metal suspension. All this can greatly limit the effect of the laser.
In addition, the laser hits targets exclusively within line of sight, that is, depending on the above weather conditions, from 500 to 5000 meters. That is, the weapon of the very last line of air defense defense, the role of which today is played by automatic cannons and multi-barreled rapid-firing machine guns. And they don't do it that badly.
Both small arms and MZA have one more additional advantage: they, of course, unmask themselves a little, but a laser beam does this much more effectively. The era of "Pew-Pew" from "Star Wars" has not yet arrived, so the beam takes a few seconds to "fry" the target. Accordingly, unmasking is underway in full, and on the second or third “shot” a “hello” can already arrive at the laser complex. So to speak, with laser beam guidance.
However, once upon a time a small-sized electronic warfare station, today called a “drone-piercing gun,” was quite a fantasy. Moreover, just some 7-8 years. And today, “drone strikes” are a completely common occurrence in the trenches. And – quite effective.
It is quite possible that miniaturization and scientific and technological progress will do their job and in a few years, if not weapons of imperial militants, then small-sized lasers with high energy efficiency will appear in service.
“Quite possibly” and “in a few years” are very vague, of course, but that’s exactly how things stand today.
In any case, drones have no other enemy yet, and small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery plus small arms is so far the best way to combat small UAVs, practice has already shown this. Plus small-sized electronic warfare systems, which are also called “trench electronic warfare.”
The laser air defense system seems to be a very promising type of weapon, and it is really great for fighting kamikaze drones, but there are still too many restrictions, some of them, moreover, will never disappear.
Speaking about Kyiv’s desire to get combat lasers, there is nothing like that. “Shaheds” and “Geranis” need to be destroyed with something, and therefore Zelensky is clutching at any straw. But here everything looks very funny, because naturally, Kyiv will not receive any laser weapons. And not because the British or Americans are sorry, although the financial side of the issue is also important.
Something else is important: almost everything that was transferred by the allies to Ukraine in one form or another falls into the possession of the Russian side. Yes, something beyond repair, but subject to research. That is precisely why none of the new weapons were given to Kyiv, precisely because it could later end up with potential adversaries, Russia and China. It is very likely that the Russian military may share information with their Chinese colleagues.
That is why Kyiv does not receive new and latest types of weapons, but only old ones, which are of no value as an object of study. That is why the same Germans, who bowed to the United States and took on most of the costs of maintaining Ukraine, are creaking, but are not giving away new Taurus and Leopards. It will be useful for you.
The laser will definitely find a home in the trenches as an auxiliary weapon. But this will not happen very soon.
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