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South Korea to mass produce lasers that can take out drones at $1.50 a hit (www.cnn.com)

submitted 4 months ago by MicroWave to c/world

81 comments fedilink hide all child comments

South Korea is beginning the mass production of a low-cost laser weapon that has successfully shot down small drones during testing, the country’s key arms agency said Thursday.

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

The release did not give a cost for the weapon, but said each shot fired would only cost about $1.50.

Imagery supplied by the agency appears to show a weapon around 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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yeah I'm no light expert but can't they just make shilding and filters for this sort of attack vector?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Depends on the wavelength. Standard mirrors don't always do mirror things at wavelengths far outside the visible spectrum.

Part of the advantages of UAVs is that you can deploy a lot of them cheaply with stuff you buy on eBay. While eBay does sell some of the more exotic mirrors for CO2 laser cutters (which are far-IR wavelengths), you couldn't buy a lot of them to cover a single drone. It'd cut into the cost advantage, and would also weigh it down a lot.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

My initial reaction was that it's going to make drones more cost prohibited. Logistics of only deploying unshielded drones where there aren't lasers will probably be a thing now too.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName 2 points 4 months ago

Even if they can, it will decrease the payload somewhat, and as the lasers get better the shielding will have to get stronger.

It'll forever be a back and forth thing