South Korea orders 'Star Wars' lasers to blast Northern drones out of the sky
- Reference: 1720761487
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/07/12/korea_star_wars/
- Source link:
The project was [1]announced on Thursday by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), and apparently represents the first time a nation's military will deploy such laser-powered anti-aircraft weapons.
"This laser anti-aircraft weapon is a new concept future weapon system that neutralizes targets by directly irradiating them with a light source laser generated from an optical fiber, and can precisely strike small unmanned aerial vehicles and multi-copters at close range," explained DAPA.
[2]
The agency added that the lasers are invisible, silent, and require no ammunition to operate – other than electricity to power the weapon.
[3]
[4]
While at present only a prototype exists, the defense agency has signed a contract with that unit's manufacturer, Hanwha Aerospace Co., to bring the tech into mass production.
DAPA published only a grainy image of the weapon, depicting it as located in a chunky little building.
[5]
South Korea's laser weapon looks vulnerable to Ewok attack – Click to enlarge
Delivery to the military is scheduled to start this year. According to DAPA's guided weapons division head, Lee Dong-seok, it will strengthen the nation's military response to North Korea's future "drone provocations."
[6]Baddies hijack Korean ERP vendor's update systems to spew malware
[7]US lawmakers wave red flags over Chinese drone dominance
[8]We've banned Chinese telco kit and drones. Next: Mountain bikes?
[9]North Korea building cash reserves using ransomware, video games
Each shot taken by the weapon apparently costs ₩2000 ($1.45) – presumably in energy costs. It is not clear how many zaps are needed to take out a drone. The agency did specify that it achieved a 100 percent success rate in live-fire tests. Do, or do not – there is no try.
The weapon [10]reportedly works by targeting engines or other electric equipment with beams of light fired for 10 to 20 seconds at a time.
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While it's cheap to operate, ₩87.1 billion ($63.2 million) has been invested in building it since development began in 2019.
DAPA said in the future, the weapon could be capable of responding to aircraft and ballistic missiles – it has plans to increase the output of the laser oscillator to make that happen.
North and South Korea both already use drones for surveillance and reconnaissance. The North has also used them provocatively – in the same spirit as its numerous rocket and missile tests that demonstrate its offensive capabilities.
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Also offensive is the North's recent use of balloons laden with garbage, which it has set drifting to land in the South where they have caused considerable annoyance ("What an incredible smell you've discovered!") and disrupted aviation. ®
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[1] https://www.dapa.go.kr/dapa/na/ntt/selectNttInfo.do?menuId=678&bbsId=326&nttSn=49889
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZpD@u6XB5@hRSNziCUiFkwAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[5] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/07/12/supplied_south_korea_drone_laser.jpg
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/02/korean_erp_backdoor_malware_attack/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/27/congress_china_drones/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/05/dji_mountain_bike_motors/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/north_korea_using_ransomware_and/
[10] https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-deploy-starwars-laser-weapons-targeting-north-korean-drones-2024-07-11
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[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: In the Future ...
> jets and missiles travel hella faster than propeller-driven drones
And another consequence of that is that the laser is unlikely to have 10 to 20 seconds, as described in the article, to irradiate the target. Which means the laser has to be a whole lot more powerful. Which makes it a lot more difficult and bulky and expensive.
All of that said, however, there is merit in a weapon that can take out drones cheaply. The main strength of drones is that it's difficult to kill them for less money than they cost the enemy.
Re: In the Future ...
Personally, I'd like a weapon to take out the menace of drones in UK beauty spots. Was trying to mind my own business having a swim in a picturesque river valley in the Peaks a few weeks ago, when a drone appeared and started pointing at me (+partner, who was actually trying to to the "getting changed under a towel" thing at the time). I resorted to throwing sticks at it, like some uncontacted Amazonian tribe chucking spears at a helicopter. Didn't manage to hit it, sadly. It's just rude. (And possibly illegal – I'm still not 100% clear on that point, having read [1]the slightly confusing regulations . If the drone is under 250g, all rules seem to go out of the window or something. Not sure how I'm supposed to weigh a drone that's hovering 20m above and pointing at me.)
[1] https://www.caa.co.uk/drones/rules-and-categories-of-drone-flying/introduction-to-drone-flying-and-the-uk-rules/
Pop a few shitty balloons
I imagine putting a hole in a balloon wouldn't require such high powered lasers. Something industrial might be adequate to drop NK's crap on their side of the DMZ.
The drone threat is now a clear and present danger which these laser systems are one of the more cost effective countermeasures.
There must be a few (older) americans that are thinking that Dugout Doug had the right ideas with respect to NK and the PRC. ;)
What colour were their test targets?
Were they shooting black drones down by any chance? Lets see one of these tests take out a white, or even better gold plated drone. Gold's a good IR reflector, and the article says the beam is invisible, so presumably it's somewhere in the IR range.
Re: What colour were their test targets?
I find your lack of faith ... perfectly rational
Never underestimate the power of the dark [paint]
How is the UKs live fire testing of its system getting on?
I'm playing 4D chess
I've ordered an Alsatian to sniff out the terminators after the fallout.
In the Future ...
I'd take DAPA's claims/plans for the future of this device with a crane-delivered, house-sized salt lick.
Jets and missiles take Oodles™-more power to disable/destroy than do drones, because they have so much more mass, which acts as a protective heat-sink.
Increased distance-to-target-from-laser reduces the beam's effectiveness, because particles in the atmosphere scatter the beam.
Further, jets and missiles travel hella faster than propeller-driven drones, so laser-based defence systems require Oodles™-better detection and tracking systems, vs what's needed for drones, for said laser-based defence systems systems to successfully defeat those jets and missiles.