Since Hamas’s deadly raids in Israel on October 7, the Palestinian terrorist organization has fired several thousand rockets against the Jewish state, triggering warning sirens throughout the country, including in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The number of shots, which saturated the Israeli “Iron Dome”, is unprecedented. And Hamas was not content with just rockets on the day of its attack. The Palestinian organization also used drones, demonstrating its true military metamorphosis into an arsenal of weapons significantly improved in quantity and quality.
But if in the sky, the technological power of the IDF was thwarted during the attack, the Israeli army can still count on a major asset. “Israel is preparing to deploy for the first time in the world a laser system for an operational test which could help intercept rockets launched towards our country,” said defense correspondent Hallel Bitton Rosen of the Israeli television channel Now 14 on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Announced for several years, the laser cannon, called “Iron Beam”, which could be translated as “iron beam”, is a technology unveiled to the general public in 2014, which would, according to the Hebrew State, make it possible to destroy short-range rockets and mortars at a considerably reduced cost.
Also read: From small faction to formidable militia, how Hamas transformed itself
“Concretely, it is a cannon which sends a laser which physically destroys the target, causing it to explode in flight, even if it is made of metal,” explains to Figaro Xavier Tytelman, aeronautics and defense consultant. According to statements from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the system uses IDF aerial detection techniques then propels a laser beam of 100 kilowatts, the average consumption of a French household in a week, capable of neutralizing any in-flight object whether “drones, shells, rockets or ballistic missiles”.
Above all, each shot would cost a few dollars compared to 50,000 for each “Iron Dome” interceptor. Tested and presented at the same time in 2021, the laser would have managed to bring down several drones, at an altitude of less than 1000 meters and within a radius limited to 1 kilometer. But the technology, which was promised in 2021 by 2024, could ultimately intercept targets within a radius of 20 kilometers.
Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz therefore praised “a major technological breakthrough”. In reality, directed energy weapons have been a subject of research for a long time and have generated real enthusiasm in recent years. “The United States started in the 1980s by spending billions on projects such as airborne technology such as the Boeing 747 for example,” explains Xavier Tytelman. “The French presidential plane is equipped, for example, with a weapon that sends a laser beam to illuminate the seeker head of a missile and thus bring it down,” the expert also explains. Recently, Airbus ordered such weapon systems to equip NATO military transport aircraft, according to the Aviation Journal, requesting the services of the Israeli company Elbit, designer of the Iron Beam.
Also readThe laser weapons revolution: here’s why (even if the Russians don’t have it) it’s only a matter of time
“But the multiplication of asymmetric conflicts, notably with the multiplication of drones, requires the consolidation of defense systems,” explains the specialist, who specifies that the laser weapon can fire an unlimited number of munitions, with logistical constraints of production and distribution. ’transportation much less therefore. In this area, France stands out in Europe. An anti-drone laser weapon was thus designed in France and tested in 2021. With a pointing system, the Helma-T can follow small drones before neutralizing them. The laser of this weapon can “either burn the drone or dazzle it”, explained the Ministry of the Armed Forces on this occasion. At a less advanced level, Onera, the French aerospace laboratory, is working on a laser weapon capable of neutralizing an enemy satellite located several hundred kilometers above sea level, without destroying it, Challenge reported.
But the real novelty of the Iron Beam lies in its ability to “burn” rockets and missiles. Israeli technology, however, has weak points. “The system’s sensors can be hampered by rainy or cloudy weather,” engineer and military analyst Uzi Rubin, a researcher at the Jerusalem Research Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), explained to the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to weather conditions that can affect the operation of the laser, the technology itself also has a shorter range than the “Iron Dome”. “The radius widens with distance and is therefore less effective when it hits far away,” explains Uzi Rubin. The final weak point is the time needed to neutralize the target, a few seconds, when it takes barely an instant for interceptor missiles to destroy a rocket. Like the “Iron Dome” during the Hamas attack on October 7, the system could well be saturated.
“The technology remains very interesting as a complement,” nevertheless reports Xavier Tytelman “and on fixed points because the installation is very heavy.” The Iron Beam will therefore not be able to replace the architecture of Israel’s current air defense system but will provide better protection against small devices.
Also read: In the West Bank, Palestinians no longer believe in dialogue with Israel
This technology is, in any case, only in its early stages. Some American lasers have a power of 300 kilowatts, suggests the Wall Street Journal. Late, Russia would have tested this year a new laser cannon capable of destroying Ukrainian drones from which it is under attack in Crimea or in Moscow, according to the RIA Novosti news agency, affiliated with the Kremlin. Russian Prime Minister Yuri Borissov also said in spring 2022 a laser weapon capable of destroying Bayraktar TB2 drones at 5 kilometers was already deployed in Ukraine, to the skepticism of kyiv.
