US Most Powerful Handed Laser Weapon Is Ready For Action

US Most Powerful Handed Laser Weapon Is Ready For Action
Drones have grown from meek zero-consequence assets into one of the most destructive weapons on the battlefield today. And they’ve achieved this in the most interesting way — such that even though they’re still easy to shoot down, they’re impossible to defeat. What does that mean? Well, many of the defensive weapons it takes to shoot a drone into a crash are more expensive than the drone they shoot. For instance, in Ukraine, it costs a $140,000-Soviet-era S-300 surface-to-air missile or a $500,000 American National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System to shoot down a relatively cheap $20,000 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone. That means it costs at least 700% more for Ukraine to shoot down a drone than for Russia to launch it — and Russia launches hundreds of them regularly. Ukraine can’t survive on that disproportion, especially considering that Russia has significantly more resources than Ukraine.

But this isn’t a Ukraine-specific problem. Although the war in Ukraine is the first time drones are featured in a war at this scale, there is nothing stopping it from being replicated in any other conflict, even against the US — cheap drones will always have the numbers edge over expensive surface-to-air missiles of air defense systems. With reports that Russia and Iran are seeking to establish a joint production line for drones in Russia, it’s clear that there is an urgent need for a completely new type of cost-proportionate weapon to protect the skies, especially for Russia’s actual archnemesis — the United States. Keeping up with its reputation as the world’s most powerful nation, the US already has the answer to this problem and they are, drumrolls please, Handheld Lasers!