Israel, "Successful Drone Interception Test Using Laser"...Showcasing Strengthened Air Defense System

Unprecedented Disclosure of Hamas's Bomb Balloon Attacks
Emphasizing Cost-Effectiveness Compared to Iron Dome Missiles

On the 21st (local time), the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released footage of a laser weapon shooting down a drone. The central part of the drone's body hit by the laser attack is seen burning. [Image source=Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Twitter]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Israeli military has successfully conducted an experiment shooting down drones with lasers fired from the air and unusually released photos and videos. This is interpreted as a demonstration of strengthened air defense systems in response to the Palestinian militant group Hamas continuing to carry out air raids using floating objects such as bomb balloons even after the ceasefire.

On the 21st (local time), the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Twitter that they succeeded in shooting down drones with lasers mounted on aircraft and unusually released photos and videos. According to local media such as the Israeli daily Haaretz, Yaniv Rotem, a reserve colonel in charge of research and development at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, stated, "Over the past week, we succeeded in shooting down multiple unmanned aerial vehicles using a prototype high-performance laser system mounted on a small civilian aircraft."

Rotem explained that Israel's laser system for shooting down drones fires a laser beam with a power of about 100 kW, and already developed air defense technology is used for target tracking and acquisition. The drone shooting experiment was conducted targeting an object at a distance of 1 km from an altitude of 3,000 feet (about 900 m), and it is expected that the system will be able to shoot down targets at a distance of 20 km once deployed in the field.

On the same day, Benny Gantz, Israel's Minister of Defense, said at a press conference, "The laser system is a low-cost new protective equipment that protects Israel from various threats."

The laser system is receiving higher cost-effectiveness evaluations compared to the Iron Dome air defense missiles that played a role in the previous month's conflict with Hamas. The Iron Dome missiles cost over $50,000 (about 56 million KRW) each, raising concerns about the defense budget burden. During the last conflict, more than 1,500 Iron Dome missiles were launched. Israel is developing ground-to-air laser launch equipment along with airborne lasers and plans to use them together with the Iron Dome system to strengthen its main air defense network in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.