Вікторія Горбік Weapon 27 February 2025, 12:53

"Laser weapons are an absolutely promising project." What awaits laser technologies in Ukraine and is the era of laser weapons getting closer? Experts' opinions

Laser technologies in weapons, which a few years ago we associated only with futuristic films about the future, are gradually becoming a reality. Experts announced that laser weapons are finally ready to enter the battlefield back in May of last year. And now conversations on this topic are emerging again, this time in relation to Ukraine. What do experts say about this issue now?

The evolution of laser weapons

The official start of the laser weapons era was marked by the US Army last year, when it became known about the use of high-energy laser systems Palletized High Energy Laser (P-HEL) to protect American troops and allies from enemy drones by Iranian-backed militants in the Middle East in November 2022.

On October 7, US Navy warships operating in the Red Sea were attacked by Houthi rebels in Yemen following an attack on Israel by Hamas.

Military research into lasers, which began in the United States with the 1980s defense initiative, also known as Star Wars, has advanced over the past few decades to the point where laser weapons have become effective against their intended targets. And as early as 2014, the Navy’s AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System (LaWS) successfully disabled drones and small boats during tests from the bow of the Austin-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Ponce, which was then called the world’s first «active laser weapon.»

The United States was not the only country working on the development of laser technology. The United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, India, Turkey and others also joined the race with varying levels of achievement in this area. But what we have now is not only in the United States.

«The era of laser weapons is drawing closer»

Recently, during the Defense Tech Innovations Forum 2025, which was held in Kyiv, Oleksiy Kaglyak, a laser technology specialist and professor at the National Technical University of Ukraine, emphasized that a laser is just a tool. And although at the beginning of laser technology, as he mentioned, lasers had a low power level, now there are new fiber-optic lasers with high power.

Oleksiy Kaglyak (Photo from the website of Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute)

The professor noted that although laser technologies are already used in treatment, when talking about missile systems and defense, it is necessary to understand that it is necessary to form a beam with certain properties that will be required. In particular, it is important to understand the quality of the laser and only after that can we talk about energy and other processes.

According to Oleksiy Kaglyak, attacking objects with a laser is quite realistic, but there are nuances. He emphasized that in different countries there are many different projects for using laser systems in military products. Some of them are successful.

Here are the requirements that, in his opinion, must be met in the development of laser weapons:

the system must operate for at least 2-3 kilometers;
a solution is needed that will allow the target to be encoded, tracked, and identified;
a system that would determine the position of the laser beam on this target.

Only by fulfilling these conditions can we speak, according to Oleksiy Kaglyak, of a laser pulse or laser radiation that could destroy a moving object.

«That’s why we have to have a huge computing system that can calculate and analyze the position and change in position of drones, missiles, or anything else. And only in this case will we be able to hit the target and get a good result from it,» the expert concluded.

«Despite everything, the use of lasers as a means of defeating air defense systems is still quite «raw""

Anatoliy Khrapchinsky, an aviation expert, former officer of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and currently deputy director of the miltech company, while analyzing laser weapons and their prospects in war, came to the conclusion that the technologies that can be seen in the tests of the USA, Great Britain, and Israel still require significant refinement.

Anatoly Khrapchinsky (Screenshot from YouTube)

«Despite everything, the use of a laser as a means of defeating an air defense system is still quite 'raw',» the expert believes.

He named a number of difficulties that may arise when using radiation weapons, including:

a large amount of energy required for the effective operation of such complexes;
It is not known for certain how long it will be possible to use, relatively speaking, lenses or mirrors to form a powerful laser beam;
there is still no exact understanding of how many laser shots can be fired from such a system;
it is important to focus the laser beam at one point so that it does not scatter, and at the same time there is stable power at a given range of damage;
For kinetic use of the laser, an extremely high-quality and accurate ballistic calculator is required that would calculate at what stage and at what point it is necessary to intercept an air target.

Speaking about the use of lasers in combat conditions, Khrapchinsky emphasized that it is important to accurately identify where to hit the beam and what damage it will cause. That is, to thoroughly practice the technique of using laser weapons on various objects.

«I think we will make a very serious statement about it in the coming months.»

Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, shared his thoughts on laser weapons and the prospects for their development in Ukraine.

«This is an absolutely promising project,» said Vadym Sukharevskyi, speaking about the laser weapons available in Ukraine, the Interfax-Ukraine agency writes, referring to the words of the SBS commander during the YES meeting «Three Years — Time to Win,» organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

He reported that today Ukraine is the fifth country that can say that it has a laser and can shoot down planes with a laser at an altitude of more than 2 km. In addition, Vadym Sukharevsky is confident that there are enough manufacturers in Ukraine to continue work in this direction, even against the backdrop of a possible reduction in support from partners, in particular the United States.

We will remind, in December 2024, the commander of the SBS reported that the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are testing a domestic laser weapon, the «Trident», which can shoot down enemy aircraft and is being actively improved.

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