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| Science & Technology | |||
| 'Or Eitan' laser is about to rewrite air defense, crushing drones and rockets for pennies | |||
| 2025-11-29 | |||
| [Ynet] The Shahed 101 is one particularly wicked piece of Iranian UAV hardware. It is 1.60 meters long, has a two meter wingspan and a carbon fiber body that makes it very hard to detect on radar. It is launched from Lebanon, slices through the sky in a chilling silence thanks to its electric motor, flies very far, up to 800 kilometers, and very low, almost brushing the treetops. In its belly it carries a cruel bomb weighing about eight kilograms. When it reaches its target, the Shahed 101 glides straight into it and explodes on contact with its shrapnel warhead, whose only purpose is to kill as many people as possible at once. It is a flying death machine, efficient and cheap, developed by Revolutionary Guards scientists with one central goal in mind: to hit as many Israeli soldiers as possible. And indeed, soldiers serving on the northern border learned to recognize the Shahed 101’s spine chilling buzz, and also understood that there was no truly effective answer to this weapon. From the ground it is very hard to bring down, and by the time a helicopter or fighter jet manages to identify it, chase it and shoot it down, long minutes pass, sometimes deadly ones. What is left? Take cover well and hope it passes. Sometimes that does not help either. The Shahed 101 hit many communities in the north. In an attack on Kabri, for example, a reserve soldier was killed. There were also attacks in Eilat, in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere. Other UAV attacks took dozens more lives. At the Golani Brigade basic training base near Ramat Menashe, one UAV, as remembered, even made it from Lebanon to the prime minister’s home in Caesarea. Another came from Yemen and struck a building near the U.S. Embassy, killing a man. If against the rocket array the defensive layer provided by Iron Dome and Arrow performed impressively, with 90 percent to 95 percent interception rates, against drones and UAVs the numbers were far lower. Only about 50 percent were shot down in time. But a little more than a year ago, that balance of terror was broken. It was in the evening hours when soldiers of the Dragon Battalion (946) in the north spotted a threat hovering over their sector. Dragon is a tactical battalion belonging to the Air Defense Array, reestablished after nearly 20 years since the previous battalion with the same name was disbanded. That night, the moment they had been waiting for finally arrived. Inside the battery’s operations trailer they tracked the target tensely. Then came the alert, then the lock. And then came the launch. When the system was activated, no roar of a Tamir interceptor rocket, Iron Dome’s missile, was heard outside. There was no terrifying boom of an Arrow launch either. In fact, aside from the soldiers’ strained breathing inside the trailer and the radio calls, there was no unusual sound. At first, nothing could be seen. But those minutes will enter history as the time of the first operational launch of an Israeli laser weapon. And suddenly, about two kilometers away, the UAV from Lebanon was violently knocked sideways in a silent blow. It tried to stabilize, but its broken wing, with its tip hanging helplessly, left it no chance. The UAV spun on its axis, its nose pointed down, went into a spiral and fell like a stone to the ground. The next sound was the shouts of joy in the operations trailer, which were clearly heard far away. These were justified shouts. Never before had anyone managed to bring down airborne weapons using a laser beam in operational activity. Everyone understood it was an event that changed the entire game. A real revolution. At the end of May this year, on the 600th day of the October 7 war, the defense establishment revealed a stunning disclosure: laser cannons were participating in the war and had already brought down close to 40 UAVs launched by Hezbollah. "The Air Defense Array deployed laser systems in the field and achieved especially high interception results that saved civilians’ lives and protected national assets," the statement said. The video released was striking. One after another, enemy drones were seen breaking apart, exploding and diving into the ground. "Israel is the first country in the world to present a massive operational laser capability for intercepting threats," said Brig. Gen. (res.) Danny Gold, head of the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development, or Maf'at. Media outlets celebrated the entry into service of the "Or Eitan" laser system, also known as "Magen Or," which had been widely discussed. But that was not true. In fact, these were several small mobile Rafael laser firing systems, Iron Beam M ("Lahav Barzel") and Lite Beam, still in testing stages. They were drafted into the campaign and, in a way that surprised even their developers, repeatedly brought down UAVs. They did so at a fraction of the cost of fighter jets and helicopters scrambled toward drones, and of the air to air missiles fired at them. This week we reveal that not only soldiers took part in this historic laser warfare, but also civilians. Because these were "demonstrators," weapons still under development, engineers and technicians had to accompany them and make sure they worked properly, meaning they blew up UAVs but did not fry soldiers.
Tell me again how UAVs are going to dominate any future battlefield. | |||
| Posted by:Grom the Affective |
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| Posted by: trailing wife 2025-11-29 23:48 |
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| Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-11-29 10:00 |
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