On November 12, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps posted a newly declassified video of the country's military's laser weapon test. In the video, a high-intensity laser beam is directed at a drone in the sky, causing it to explode almost immediately. This is the first time the actual firing image of the "Dragon Fire" laser cannon developed by the UK has appeared.

"Newly declassified video shows laser weapons can take down targets at the speed of light," said Minister Shapps.

The British Ministry of Defense announced in mid-January that "Dragon Fire" had used a high-intensity laser beam to take down an aerial target for the first time during a test at the Hebrides training ground in northwest Scotland.

The British Ministry of Defense did not disclose the range of the "Dragon Fire", but affirmed that it could "attack any target within visual range". The agency also said that "Dragon Fire" is capable of firing with high accuracy, enough to hit a coin at a distance of one kilometer.

UK shows off 'dragon fire' laser weapon that can destroy drones

First introduced in 2017, "Dragon Fire" is a joint project between the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an agency under the UK Ministry of Defence, and the country's leading arms corporations, including MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ. "Dragon Fire" is expected to be deployed to the British Army and Navy.

Laser weapons like the "Dragon Fire" are seen as an effective and low-cost solution to shooting down targets like drones, instead of using expensive anti-aircraft missiles to deal with this cheap threat.

During the conflict in Ukraine, Russia frequently used large unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to carry out suicide attacks on enemy infrastructure in swarms, a tactic that caused many difficulties for Kiev because the country did not have enough anti-aircraft missiles to intercept them.

The British Ministry of Defense said each shot of "Dragon Fire" costs about 13 USD and firing this weapon continuously for 10 seconds costs only equivalent to using a heater for an hour.

"This is in stark contrast to the hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars per shot of sophisticated air defense systems," said James Black, an expert at the European branch of the US-based RAND Corporation.

Minister Shapps also stressed that "Dragon Fire" has the potential to "revolutionize" future combat methods, helping to reduce dependence on expensive ammunition and limit collateral damage.

In addition to the UK, a number of other countries are also stepping up investment in the field of laser weapons. Israel is developing Iron Beam, an air defense system that can intercept missiles, rockets and drones with lasers.

The US military also said it deployed four laser weapon systems mounted on Striker armored vehicle chassis to the Middle East for testing in early February.

Pham Giang (According to Newsweek, AFP, Reuters )