From Newsgroup: alt.politics.usa

https://www.foxnews.com/world/israel-unveils-iron-beam-laser-weapon-while-achieving-record-15b-arms-sales

The record sales come as Israel unveils its latest weapon. The
Iron Beam is a laser capable of knocking out incoming missiles,
mortar rounds and drones up to 6 miles away for as little as $2
per interception. By contrast, interceptor missiles typically
cost anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million apiece.

. . .

Apparently they did make use of early models back
during their little war with Iran.

Now it seems they're happy with the design and will
deploy it widely to support their Iron Dome interceptor
system.

Even IronDome missiles are relatively expensive,
albeit a LOT cheaper than US Patriot missiles.
This laser system runs for the cost of electricity.

The relatively short RANGE (it's likely a bit more
than they claim) is a certain limitation. One would
have to put a ring of these around larger cities
and vital facilities. Decent WEATHER is also a
likely requirement.

But something that can be aimed quickly and accurately
and fired repeatedly for cheap ... there will be many
uses for that.

It is unclear if Israel plans to SELL these. Ukraine
sure as hell could use some batteries of lasers as
an inner defense ring around its cities.

The USA and others have been working on laser
weapons for quite awhile. Alas none ever seemed
to be very practical, nothing you could truck
out into the field and rely upon. They were
basically a cash cow for defense contractors.

There MAY be strong lasers on some US Navy
ships ... but I've never heard if they have
a combat performance record. Dealing with Houthi
attacks would have been a great test.

Despite the old sci-fi movie serials, lasers are
a difficult sort of weapon to use in any context.
There are also simple defenses - a mirror-bright
shell on a missile, simply rolling the missile,
even something that spews thick white smoke from
the nose. Little progress was made with particle-beam
weapons either - too hard to make coherent and the
atmosphere really screws with them.

Maybe cheaper, smarter, interceptor rockets are the
ultimately better solution. As sensors and 'AI'
improve so do possibilities. An interceptor a
quarter the price of an IronDome rocket .....


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