Air defense
Iron Beam – Israel’s new laser is designed to intercept rockets and even grenades
The current laser should reach a strength of 100 kW.
© Raphael
Its use was actually not planned for a few years, but in view of the fighting, the Iron Beam should be brought to the front now. It only works at short distances and could protect ground troops from grenades and mini-drones.
Cost efficiency
Israel’s “Iron Dome” is doing very well, even when thousands of rockets rained down on Israel, the protective shield held up. However, the large number of Hamas rockets shows a dilemma that the current system cannot solve. The attacking rockets have a small payload and are very inaccurate, but they are cheap and Hamas is now able to produce them in very large numbers.
A rocket like this costs a few hundred euros. Videos show how the fuselage is made from simple water pipes, wings and attachments can be made from plywood, as well as a simple engine and an explosive device. The “Iron Dome’s” defense missiles were designed from the outset to be as cheap as possible. To defend against a missile, two defense missiles are launched, if possible, to increase the probability of a hit.
The cost of the Israeli weapons is secret, but an estimate of around 100,000 euros for a double shot is still on the low end. If you generously estimate an unguided “Qassam” rocket at 500 euros, you can see the problem. If Hamas spends 10 million on rockets, Israel has to spend 2 billion on defense. As long as these rockets were only assembled in individual hobby shops, Hamas could not scale the price advantage at will. Now things look different. In a possible conflict with a state that produces similar weapons on an industrial scale, the problem may worsen. Then hundreds of thousands of cheap weapons could be launched. And this is not just a financial problem. In this way, the large Israeli reserves could also be exhausted.
Region in turmoil
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Low operating costs
A way out of the dilemma is the “Iron Beam”. This is a comparatively simple solid-state laser with an energy of 100 kilowatts. It should be almost ready for use. This system “only” requires electricity to operate; as long as this is supplied, the “Iron Beam” cannot be exhausted. The electricity costs for the strong but short laser pulse are negligible. This would give Israel an antidote against the swarms of drones. He is also able to fight weapons at very short distances. At least in theory, the laser can create a protective shield over a single combat group and, for example, intercept mortar shells. This is probably also the reason for the early deployment, as the current air defense cannot switch off grenades and small drones. Another advantage of laser weapons is that no debris or even an entire warhead falls back to earth.
Power supply
This would solve the problem of replenishing defense missiles, but the laser brings its own problems. If the system is to be able to achieve many kills in a short period of time, appropriate heat must be dissipated from the laser. It would also have to have its own permanent power supply. Both indicate that the “Iron Beam” will be used stationary rather than mobile.