Ukraine has developed a silent, undetectable laser that can take out Russian drones as if “struck by invisible lightning” — and all at a fraction of the cost of similar high-tech weapons made in the US, according to a new report.
Kyiv’s Sunray laser, which has been in the works for two years, was able to take out a small drone hundreds of yards away in an instant during its first test run in front of journalists, The Atlantic reported after witnessing the prototype in person.
“Within seconds, the drone began to burn as if struck by invisible lightning, then fell to the ground in a fiery arc,” reporter Simon Shuster wrote of the spectacle.
The test was the first time Ukraine unveiled the Sunray weapon, which had previously been called “Trident,” with the laser system emitting neither noise nor visible light.
The laser cannon could easily be loaded into a pickup truck, with its aim sight appearing no different from that of a hobbyist’s telescope, according to the Atlantic.
Colonel Vadym Sukharevsky, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, had previously touted that the Sunray was capable of shooting down Russian aircraft flying as far as 1.2 miles in the sky.
While America’s own laser weapon, the Helios, cost the US Navy $150 million to develop, the creators of the Sunray claimed their system only cost a few million dollars.
Pavlo Yelizarov, the newly appointed commander of Kyiv’s air-defense forces, said the military is expected to buy the Sunray for only a few hundred thousand dollars, a testament to the personal stakes of Ukrainian arms companies in the fight against Russia’s invasion.
“Many American companies are driven by money. For them, it’s a job. They do it. They get paid,” Yelizarov told the Atlantic. “We have another component at play: the need to survive.”
Ukraine has been rapidly innovating new weapons and defense systems in the face of Russia’s constant bombardments, which sees Moscow fire hundreds of drones every day.
With Moscow increasingly targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, including its energy grid, Kyiv has said it would speed up the development of an “anti-drone dome,” an air defense system capable of taking out any aerial threats as they come.
“The anti-drone dome is not about the future,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in January. “It’s about survival today.”
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