{"id":81656,"date":"2024-03-11T13:20:38","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T20:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/watch-declassified-footage-of-uk-dragonfire-laser-weapon-in-action\/"},"modified":"2024-03-11T13:20:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T20:20:38","slug":"watch-declassified-footage-of-uk-dragonfire-laser-weapon-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/watch-declassified-footage-of-uk-dragonfire-laser-weapon-in-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Declassified footage of UK DragonFire laser weapon in action"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n<p><span>The UK\u2019s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has released declassified footage of its DragonFire laser weapon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>DragonFire <\/span><span>shoots a high-power beam at the speed of light. It\u2019s so precise, it can fry a target the size of a coin<\/span><span> from a kilometre away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This \u201cnever seen before\u201d footage and imagery sho<\/span><span>ws the laser cannon in action at a site in the Hebrides, a remote archipelago off the coast of Scotland. The video also includes CGI footage of the laser weapon zapping military <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/topic\/drone\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">drones<\/a> out of the sky \u2014 one of DragonFire\u2019s potential real life use cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" srcdoc=\"\n\n<style>*{padding:0;margin:0;overflow:hidden}html,body{background:#000;height: 100%}img{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width: 100%;height: 100%;object-fit:cover;transition:opacity .1s cubic-bezier(0.4,0,1,1)}a:hover img+img{opacity:1!important}<\/style>\n<p><a href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F2s9okjS0z4?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1&#038;mute=1&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;theme=light&#038;playsinline=1'><img src='https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/F2s9okjS0z4\/hqdefault.jpg'><img src='https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/themes\/cyberdelia\/assets\/img\/ytplaybtn.png' style='top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)'><img src='https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/themes\/cyberdelia\/assets\/img\/ytplaybtn-hover.png' style='top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;opacity:0;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)'><\/a>&#8221; title=&#8221;Dragonfire Media Day Footage&#8221; width=&#8221;500&#8243;><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span>DragonFire is being developed for the MoD by the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and industry partners including British aerospace firm Leonardo and defence specialists QinetiQ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The laser weapon could offer a low-cost alternative to short-range missiles, which are often more expensive than the targets they\u2019re intended to destroy. This could apply to conflicts such as the current <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/red-sea-cable-cut-by-anchor-from-houthi-ship-attack-says-internet-firm\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span>Houthi attacks in the Red Sea<\/span><\/a><span>, which have largely relied on drone warfare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>This type of cutting-edge weaponry has the potential to revolutionise the battlespace by reducing the reliance on expensive ammunition, while also lowering the risk of collateral damage,\u201d UK defence minister Grant Shapp said in January. <\/span><span>The MoD predicts that firing the DragonFire system will cost just \u00a310 (\u20ac11.7) per shot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"the dragonfire laser weapon\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/03\/dragonfire-laser-weapon-1.jpg\" data- decoding=\"async\" height=\"1091\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" width=\"1640\"><\/img><figcaption>The DragonFire laser weapon directs huge amounts of energy at small objects, and can burn through solid steel. Credit: DragonFire consortium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"image of drone zapped by dragonfire laser weapon\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/03\/dragonfire-test-laser-drone.jpg\" data- decoding=\"async\" height=\"1091\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" width=\"1640\"><\/img><figcaption>A test drone that was zapped by the DragonFire during a recent test in Scotland. Credit: DragonFire consortium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span>Under development since 2017, the laser weapon cost around <\/span><span>\u00a3100mn (\u20ac117mn) to build. DragonFire could be <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/laser-weapon-aerial-target-porton-down-xzzwn00ls\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span>installed<\/span><\/a><span> on military vessels in five years\u2019 time \u2014 although some major hurdles remain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While the idea of zapping enemies for super cheap unsurprisingly appeals to military forces (the US and Russia are also developing their own laser weapons), there is a reason why the tech is still at the experimental stage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> Laser directed-energy weapons, as they\u2019re known, beam kilowatts-worth of energy at a target, burning anything in their path. While cheap to operate, they are expensive to build and there\u2019s still one major issue that has yet to be overcome: they can only operate in clear skies \u2014 no clouds, no rain, or fog can be present.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nevertheless, with fat military budgets (the US alone is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/defense-department-laser-beam-microwave-energy-weapons\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span>spending<\/span><\/a><span> $1bn on laser weapon R&#038;D each year) and some of the brightest scientific minds, it will, in all likelihood, only be a matter of time before deadly laser cannons become part of the arsenal of armies.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UK\u2019s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has released declassified footage of its DragonFire laser weapon.\u00a0 DragonFire shoots a high-power beam at the speed of light. It\u2019s so precise, it can fry a target the size of a coin from a kilometre away. This \u201cnever seen before\u201d footage and imagery shows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":81657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2668,5062,2644,397],"tags":[2667,5061,2643,395],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}