The MoD’s got a frickin’ big laser that can fry drones for £10 a shot

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has declassified footage of its £10-per-shot military laser weapon destroying a drone.

Named DragonFire, the weapon was unveiled in January after a successful test in which it destroyed incoming drones from several miles away.

While the exact range of the weapon is classified, an MoD statement said the feat was equivalent to hitting a £1 coin from a kilometre away.

It is a ‘line-of-sight’ weapon and can engage with any visible target.

DragonFire is a directed energy weapon, or DEW, being developed by the MoD’s defence science and technology laboratory (DSTL) and British industry.

‘The laser-directed energy weapon engages targets at the speed of light, using an intense beam of energy to cut through objects, leading to structural failure,’ a statement from the MoD said.

The DragonFire laser weapon can melt drones from miles away (Picture: MOD/SWNS)

Testing is thought to have taken place at the MoD’s Hebrides Range in Scotland.

A DSTL statement added: ‘A newly declassified video shows the power of our DragonFire laser in action. This technology is the result of joint working with world-class industry partners.’

The weapon cost £100 million to develop (Picture: MOD/SWNS)

Radar tracked the weapon’s targets (Picture: MOD/SWNS)

Laser weapons emit electromagnetic energy at a wavelength that will be absorbed by the target, causing it to melt. The laser-directed energy beam can cut through targets to disable them – or do more damage if hitting a warhead.

DEWs can also be used to temporarily disable enemy attacks by ‘dazzling’ sensors – or people.

The system cost £100 million to develop, but at less than £10 per shot, is significantly cheaper to operate than alternative systems. For example, destroyer missiles can cost around £1 million each.

DragonFire comes after it was announced that high-energy laser weapons will be integrated onto a Wolfhound military vehicle.

A drone destroyed by the Ratheon high-energy laser weapon system on the MoD’s Wolfhound military vehicle (Picture: Raytheon UK/SWNS)

The UK is not alone in developing directed energy weapons – the US and other countries are also developing their own technology. 

In non-military developments, a project to build a laser a ‘million billion billion times brighter’ than the Sun was unveiled last year in the hope of new discoveries in areas such as clean energy and cancer treatment.