The UK’s current unveiling of the ‘DragonFire laser’ could sound comforting in instances of battle, however the equipment might have a deadly flaw.
Announced by present Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, the huge beam is able to slicing down drones and travels towards targets “at the speed of light.” But the event ought to be taken with a grain of salt, Professor Anthony Glees prompt.
Labelled a “potentially revolutionary” little bit of equipment by the Defence Secretary, who hopes it is going to give the UK “an advantage against our enemies”, it might be properly off being in any respect practical to be used in warfare.
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In reality, the weapon may very well be about as helpful as a botched James Bond weapon or the elusive “magic beams” rumoured to take down enemy plane in World War Two.
(Image: Getty Images)
Shapps’ announcement learn: “Meet the UK’s first laser weapon: DragonFire. UK military scientists have for the first time shot down drones by using the laser to cut through incoming targets at the speed of light.
“Capable of being fitted to future warships, will probably be a significant British weapon as the specter of drone warfare grows. DragonFire is simply one of many doubtlessly revolutionary capabilities we’re investing in to achieve a bonus in opposition to our enemies.”
But its usefulness is far from immediate, with Professor Glees telling the Daily Star: “What Shapps would not say is that it is solely on the testing stage and unlikely to be operational earlier than 2030.
(Image: AFP through Getty Images)
“During World War Two, the British and the German public was often been told about ‘magic beams’ that could destroy enemy aircraft (probably referring to radar of one kind or another) but then lasers appeared and we’ve all seen ‘Goldfinger’ where Mr Goldfinger points his laser at James Bond.”
The weapon, nonetheless, just isn’t far off the place it must be to take down targets from a fantastic distance and travelling at greater speeds, although proper now could be solely able to hitting “short-range, low-altitude weapons” out of the sky in “clement weather”.
Professor Glees added of the 50KW DragonFire laser: “You’d need 100-300KW lasers to take done a cruise missile, a plane or a specialist drone. So Grant is pulling the wool over our eyes here, I’m afraid, egging the pudding as we’ve come to expect.”
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