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Briefly: South Korea is ready to change into the primary nation to deploy and function anti-aircraft laser weapons, which it’s going to use to shoot drones from North Korea out of the sky. In what looks like a becoming title, this system is known as the “Star Wars venture.”
Introduced by the Protection Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the laser weapons have been developed by the South Korean navy with Hanwha Aerospace Co.
DAPA explained that the laser anti-aircraft weapon destroys targets by immediately irradiating them with a laser gentle supply generated from an optical fiber. It will probably strike small unmanned aerial autos, aka drones, and multi-copters at shut vary.
The beams of sunshine, which final 10 to twenty seconds, can burn out engines, circuit boards, or different electrical tools in drones.
The company stated the lasers are invisible, silent, and require no ammunition. All they want is electrical energy to function. They’re additionally low-cost to make use of, costing 2,000 received (about $1.50) per shot. Whereas not a laser weapon, the US Navy’s deserted rail gun venture was estimated to value round $25,000 per spherical.
An company official famous that international locations such because the US and Israel are forward of South Korea with regards to creating laser weapons, however their focus has been on high-powered beams designed to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles. South Korea goals to ultimately develop comparable laser weapons of its personal.
5 North Korean drones crossed into South Korea in December 2022, resulting in fighter jets and assault helicopters scrambling to shoot them down.
The laser weapon remains to be within the prototype stage, however DAPA says it has signed an settlement with Hanwha Aerospace Co. that may see the system put into mass manufacturing.
Lee Sang-yoon, a DAPA official, instructed AFP information that Block-I, the primary laser system, shall be put into operational deployment by the navy this 12 months, although some consultants consider it might take so long as 5 years earlier than the lasers shall be on the frontlines capturing down drones.
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