South Korea to mass-produce lasers that can shoot down drones for $8

South Korea is beginning mass production of a low-cost laser weapon that successfully shot down small drones during tests, the country’s top weapons agency said Thursday (11).

The laser weapon, called Block-I, “can accurately target small unmanned aerial vehicles and multicopters at close range,” a press release from South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.

The statement did not say how much the weapon would cost, but said each shot fired would cost only about $1.50 – equivalent to about R$8.

Images provided by the agency appear to show a weapon the size of a shipping container with a laser mounted on top and what appears to be a radar or tracking device mounted on one side of the platform.

DAPA said the unit measures 9 meters by 3 meters by 3 meters and fires laser beams that are difficult, if not impossible, to detect before impact.

“It is invisible and silent, does not require separate ammunition, and can be operated only when electricity is supplied,” the DAPA statement said.

Future versions could be developed to take out much larger targets, including aircraft and ballistic missiles, which would be a potential “game changer,” according to the statement.

DAPA will develop “an anti-aircraft laser weapon system (Block-II) with improved output and range compared to the current one,” the statement said.

But the Block-I weapon itself comes into operation at an important moment.

In Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere, small drones — some available for sale — have shown the ability to disable or destroy multimillion-dollar pieces of military equipment, including tanks.

The military has typically responded by trying to eliminate low-cost drones with defensive systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars per strike.

A weapon that could do the same for practically pennies would be a huge boost to the country that could deploy it.

“Low-cost drones and rockets have shifted the economic calculus of offense and defense in favor of those who use large volumes of cheap unmanned systems and munitions to overwhelm more sophisticated air and missile defenses,” James Black, assistant director for defense and security at the think tank RAND Europe, wrote in January.

DAPA said the Block-I weapon has been in development for five years, with more than $63 million invested.

The Korea Institute for Defense Analysis led the development of the system with participation from Hanwha Aerospace, it said.

The system was assessed as combat-ready in April 2023 after achieving 100% success in killing targets in live-fire tests, according to DAPA.

The agency said South Korea is the first country to publicly acknowledge it will deploy a mass-produced laser weapon.

Earlier this year, the UK showed off a new laser weapon that its military said could provide lethal missile or air defense for around $13 a shot.

But no possible date for the deployment of this weapon had been announced.

In 2022, the US Navy successfully tested a high-energy laser system against a target representing a cruise missile.

But a Navy account of that test said there were no plans to put it into the hands of fighters, adding that it “offers a glimpse into the future of laser weapons.”