Britain does not rule out providing Ukraine with revolutionary laser weapons DragonFire: what is known

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that his country is considering providing Ukraine with a prototype of the DragonFire laser weapon. This could become another means of shooting down Russian drones and missiles.

He also noted that he wants to accelerate the deployment of such weapons on British ships and land to a much shorter time frame. This was reported by The Daily Telegraph.

According to Shapps, London plans to add DragonFire to its arsenal by 2027 but is working to find out if it can send prototypes to Ukraine earlier – even if they are not 100% complete.

"I am absolutely sure that what we have here is very special, and at a level that other countries are unlikely to be able to replicate because it is so advanced. The product itself is ahead of the curve," the minister said of the British laser weapon.

It is noted that the British Ministry of Defense has accelerated the use of the laser in response to the growing threat of drone attacks in connection with the "two great conflicts" – the wars in Ukraine and Israel.

Scientists at the UK's Porton Down defense laboratory have been working with industry experts in recent months to take the laser weapon from a laboratory experiment to a near-ready weapon.

What we know about DragonFire

DragonFire is a laser beam that can shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles. It is invisible and silent because the wavelength of the light is close to the infrared spectrum and is about one micron, which the human eye cannot detect.

The laser beam moves at the speed of light, and its range is still classified. It is noted that it instantly turns the metal surface into a plasma with a temperature of 3000 C° and can burn through sheet metal, fuselage, and weapons in seconds.

The system was created to destroy UAVs after the wars in Israel and Ukraine showed that they are the "last frontier" of modern warfare. At the same time, the British Ministry of Defense emphasizes that DragonFire is a powerful enough system to shoot down projectiles that move even faster, such as ballistic missiles.

The main feature of laser weapons is their low cost. Manufacturers claim that one shot costs only 10 pounds sterling ($12).

In Britain, this laser weapon was tested in January 2024. DragonFire is expected to be installed on Royal Navy warships by 2027, and then the systems will be deployed on land.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, Britain is also considering the possibility of transferring additional Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine in exchange for Taurus missiles from Germany. London does not share the concerns of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the supply of Taurus could contribute to the escalation of the conflict, so it offers a "ring exchange" of missiles as an option.

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