The British Ministry of Defense recently announced that the “laser-guided energy weapon” under development has been successfully tested on October 17 at the test site in Wiltshire, southwest England, showing that the development of the UK’s first high-power laser weapon is going smoothly.
The “Laser Directed Energy Weapon” (Laser Directed Energy Weapon, LDEW) project code-named “Dragonfire”
It was jointly developed by the British Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and MBDA in the mid-2010s.
It is a high-energy laser weapon with a power rating of 50kW.
On October 17, the British military conducted a land test firing of the Dragonfire at the Porton Down Science Park range in Wiltshire (Woltshire).
The system successfully tracked the target and fired a high-energy laser to melt through the outer shell, causing the target to lose its ability to fly and crash.
The British Ministry of Defense stated that the successful test firing of Dragonfire represents a milestone for the British self-made high-power laser weapon.
In view of the surge in the impact of drones on modern warfare, laser weapons can provide defenders with low-cost anti-drone ammunition, so the Dragon Fire system will also be developed towards anti-air and sea unmanned vehicles.
The British Ministry of Defense will continue to test the system, including using artillery shells, rockets and drones as test targets for the next two stages.
