Technology1 min read

Why waste million-dollar missiles on cheap drones? India, Germany bet on laser weapons

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Directed energy weapons provide an essentially limitless supply of ammunition to counter modern aerial threats as long as operational power is maintained. Germany is pioneering this technology for airborne use by contracting MBDA Deutschland to develop a pod-based demonstrator designed for future Luftwaffe aircraft. Meanwhile, India is moving forward on multiple ground-based capabilities, including a 30kW laser designed to defeat drone swarms at ranges up to five kilometers.

Key points

  • Laser weapons eliminate the economic disadvantage of launching million-dollar interceptor…: Laser weapons eliminate the economic disadvantage of launching million-dollar interceptors to destroy inexpensive hostile drones.
  • Airborne laser integrations require engineers to overcome severe design challenges concer…: Airborne laser integrations require engineers to overcome severe design challenges concerning weight, cooling, power, aerodynamics, and vibration.
  • India is actively establishing a layered defense through Project Sudarshan Chakra by deve…: India is actively establishing a layered defense through Project Sudarshan Chakra by developing laser systems ranging up to 100kW.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

The breathtaking pace of technological advancements is turning science fiction into reality. Laser based Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) which were once only seen on the screen are now becoming a practical battlefield solution. This at a time when cheap drones have changed the economics of air defence. A drone worth a few thousand dollars can force a military to fire an interceptor that costs many times more, and when the attacks come in large numbers, that exchange quickly becomes unsustainable. Directed-energy weapons are increasingly seen as a way out, and developments in Germany and India show how seriously militaries are taking them.

MBDA Deutschland has received a contract to build a pod-based demonstrator, Germany's first formal move into airborne laser weapons. The aim is to lay the technological foundations for directed-energy capabilities on future German air force (Luftwaffe) aircraft, with the longer-term goal of shooting down enemy drones and cruise missiles. Laser technology has been a strategic research priority since 2019, and MBDA says it has worked on the technologies since 2008, claiming to have demonstrated a complete laser weapon…

Technology