Israel Announces New 'Laser Sword' Breakthrough Designed To Shred Enemy Weapons
It’s difficult to find geopolitical news these days that gives your average conservative an unalloyed warm, fuzzy feeling.
Sure, impeachment is backfiring like a worn moped on Democrats, but we still have to deal with the ridiculous specter of impeachment in the first place. The fact that terrorist Qassem Soleimani was (as John Cena might say) compromised to a permanent end was somewhat soured by the fact that Iran, in its ineffectual response to the attack, shot down a Ukrainian airliner. There’s tumult within the royal family and continuing unrest in Hong Kong. Where’s the good news there?
Well, fear not, because I’ve got some grade-A unfiltered glad tidings for you.
Is it good news for Israel? You bet.
Is it bad news for Hamas? Absolutely.
Will it make Rashida Tlaib really grumpy? Yes — and that’s the key thing here. If it’s something that makes Tlaib glower over her coffee in the morning, you’ve got a winner. And that winner is a “laser sword.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that it was rolling out a laser system designed to hit rockets and mortars too small to be covered by the country’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
The new tech “makes the security apparatus more lethal, more powerful and more advanced,” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said.
Bennett added the country would “add a laser sword when dealing with threats from the north or the south.”
“We are entering a new age of energy warfare in the air, on land and at sea,” said Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem, head of the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Research and Development. “The R&D investments made by the DD [Directorate of Defense] R&D in recent years have placed the State of Israel among the leading countries in the field of high-energy laser systems.”
The system has been germinating for over a decade and has been successfully tested against rockets and mortars.
“This is a dramatic solution to rocket fire,” said Dubi Oster, head of the optronics department at the Directorate of Defense’s research and development division. “We have been working on this for years. But it is challenging to get a good-quality beam to stay the size you need at the range you need … for example, a beam the diameter of a coin from here [in Tel Aviv] to Herzliya.”
The Times of Israel reported that the system isn’t ready to deploy yet and is only in the developmental stages. It’s set to begin testing later this year.
However, the unveiling on Wednesday is a sign that the system is ready to move forward — major news out of Israel, since the government there has been struggling to find a cost-effective way to make the proposed laser system work.
It was reported last year that the Israelis were working on an “Iron Beam” laser system to compliment the Iron Dome, the anti-missile system jointly developed by Israel and the United States first deployed in 2011. It’s so far unclear whether what was announced Wednesday was that system.
During the 2014 conflict in the Gaza Strip, according to the Jewish Virtual Library, the Iron Dome intercepted 90 percent of the rockets fired at Israeli targets. However, the system relies on $20,000-a-piece rockets and isn’t effective against smaller targets.
Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Rotem said that each firing of the “laser sword” would cost about one dollar. While the system would have a high initial price tag, subsequent uses over time would make the system cost-effective.
Furthermore, so long as the Iron Beam is powered, it has unlimited ammunition.
Each Iron Dome installation is limited to a finite number of rockets on site, meaning a well-timed fusillade could get past the system.
“During a war, missile interceptors will at one point run out, but with this system, as long as you have electricity, you have a never-ending supply,” Rotem said.
Mind you, the laser system is meant only to compliment the Iron Dome, not replace it.
It has limitations of its own, particularly if skies are overcast.
“We can only shoot down with a laser what we can see,” Rotem said.
However, an airborne platform that uses the laser system is another potential deployment the Israelis hope to pursue, along with a fixed ground platform and a maneuverable platform that troops can use in the field.
“This is one system with many options — the weapon of the future,” Rotem said.
Of course, with any system like this it depends how it’s developed.
If testing is successful, the system will see its first deployment outside of Gaza.
However, the potential of a system that can shoot down mortars and small rockets would be a game-changer in Israel, particularly since it would take away a major avenue of asymmetrical warfare for groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It’s the kind of news that makes you smile.
And yes, it’ll have Rashida Tlaib glowering, which makes it all the more fun.
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