Drones knock down rockets for $ 11 million: why haven't been replaced by cheap lasers

Working energy already exists, but bureaucrats do not allow the military to put it in practice. US Navy warships knock down drones and missiles with shells, the cost of which is many times higher than the cost of their targets. But the weapons of the directional energy, which has been spent by military and millions of dollars, are not involved.

This was noticed by the American journalist of Defense One Patrick Tucker, and asked the question: why is it happening? The US Navy freely uses the US $ 11 million rockets for the destruction of drones, the cost of which can be only a few thousand dollars. In order to avoid such costs, the military was offered laser and other weapons of directional energy, the possibilities of which are not limited, and each shot will be much cheaper.

Thus, in 2014, laser installations were placed on some military vessels. "The US is gradually deploying 8 Optical Dazzler Interdictor Navy (ODIN) (ODIN) power at the Arleigh Burke class Like High Energy Laser Counter and Layred Laser Defense, "the journalist writes. However, technical problems with laser scaling have not yet been solved to defeat goals, especially fast as drones.

Although the speed of the laser beam is equal to the speed of light, it takes a few seconds to track the target to knock it down. The US Navy and the US Defense Ministry are working on solving these problems, developing in the field of fiber lasers. But there is another obstacle, according to Tacara, and it is a bureaucratic nature.

"The Congression Research Service report states:" The Navy is working on making an estimate of the purchase of future laser weapons to support the Navy Program ", but immediately add in the document that" the Department does not have previously registered laser programs weapons "on the basis of which historical comparisons can be made, especially in the field of logistics and the cost of life cycle," - quotes the author of the material.

In other words, the Navy cannot buy ship lasers because it has never bought them in large quantities before and therefore does not know how much it can cost. The report states that a laser with a capacity of 60 kW with a simplified management of beam and integration of combat systems at temperate production will cost about $ 100 million. According to the report, for weapons of 250 kW and increased complexity of managing the laser beam estimation varies up to $ 200 million per unit.