UK considers transferring DragonFire laser weapon prototype to Ukraine
Kyiv • UNN
The United Kingdom is considering sending a prototype of the DragonFire laser weapon to Ukraine before its planned deployment in 2027, even if it is not fully finalized, to speed up the process of providing new technologies to help Ukrainian defense.
The UK plans to add DragonFire lasers to its arsenal by 2027, but is working to see if it can send prototypes to Ukraine earlier. This was stated by British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, The Daily Telegraph reports, according to UNN.
Details
It is noted that British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps inspected the DragonFire laser weapons laboratory. According to him, delays in the introduction of new weapons technologies are "the biggest waste of defense money.
What I want to do is to accelerate a process that is usually very long, maybe up to 10 years, to a much shorter period of time and deploy it potentially on ships and potentially on land,
Shapps noted that the UK plans to add DragonFire to its arsenal by 2027, but is considering sending prototypes to Ukraine earlier, even if they are not 100 percent complete.
Let's just say that it doesn't have to be 100 percent perfect for Ukrainians to possibly get it. For now, it is still a 2027 date, but of course I will see what we can do to speed it up,
For reference
The weapon works by focusing 37 channels of 1.5 kW laser beams arranged in a hexagonal shape and combining them with mirrors to merge and amplify the power. This is a physical phenomenon known as constructive interference.
Tim Kendall, a senior laser physicist at DSTL who helped create DragonFire, said it creates a "perfect laser beam" that can be fired through a telescopic lens.
The weapon is invisible and silent, as the wavelength of light is about one micron, which is not visible to the human eye and is close to the infrared spectrum of light.
Tests of the weapon, made with an almost entirely custom-designed guidance system and off-the-shelf laser parts, destroyed drones and caused mortar explosions in less than five seconds.
DragonFire operates at the speed of light, but its range is still classified. It instantly transforms the metal surface into a 3000C plasma and can burn through sheet metal, fuselage, and weapons in seconds.
Recall
The UK Ministry of Defense has successfully tested the DragonFire laser directed weapon system against air targets. The range of the system is classified, but it can hit any visible target and operates with an accuracy equivalent to hitting a £1 coin from a distance of 1,000 meters.
