Russia's new laser: there are many arguments against using it in the Ukraine war

Created: 05/20/2022, 17:07

From: Julius Fastnacht

In the Ukraine war, Russia announces that it will eliminate enemy drones with a new laser weapon - military experts have expressed serious doubts about the plans.

Kyiv – Russia's announcement that it will shoot down Ukrainian drones with a new type of laser in the future has met with great skepticism in expert circles.

The British Guardian reports.

Most recently, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borissov announced on state television that a new weapon called "Zadira" could shoot down targets up to five kilometers away.

In a test, they destroyed a drone within a few seconds.

Israel successfully completes tests with laser interceptor system

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sneered at the statement.

"Zadira" is purely a propaganda construct by Russia - indicating that the invasion of Ukraine is about to fail.

Selenskyj even drew parallels to a Nazi strategy in World War II: "The more it became clear that they [the Nazis] had no chance in the war, the more propaganda there was about the Wunderwaffe."

Russia's new laser weapon is targeting Ukrainian TB2 Bayraktar drones.

However, experts doubt their usability.

© Ukrinform/dpa

According to the Guardian, anti-drone lasers are in fact under development around the world.

However, so far these have mostly been prototypes that have never been tested in a conflict.

The Düsseldorf armaments group Rheinmetall also recently announced that it had carried out initial tests with a functional model of a laser weapon for the German armed forces.

So there seems to be some progress in this area.

In April, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that the army had successfully tested a laser intercept system.

"It may sound like science fiction, but it's reality," he wrote on Twitter.

The use of lasers is considerably cheaper than using expensive rocket systems - a shot costs only 3.50 US dollars.

Russia: New laser weapons endanger own army

According to the Guardian, however, various factors speak against a large-scale use of the new anti-drone laser in the Ukraine war.

Dmitri Stefanovich, a researcher at the Moscow Center for International Security, told the paper: "Russia needs to increase its production of Zadira lasers in order to use them effectively.

Right now there just isn't enough to make a real difference."

In addition, it is questionable whether Moscow even has a transportable energy supply for the laser.

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According to a second, anonymous analyst, the energy factor can also lead to another problem.

The operation of small nuclear reactors is dependent: "The problem is that the lasers are operated with nuclear power.

A Ukrainian attack on the facilities would result in a small nuclear disaster, exposing Russian soldiers to radioactive material.”

And the fact that Russia would have to position its laser systems just five kilometers from possible targets due to their short range makes them particularly vulnerable to counterattacks.

(juf)