JERUSALEM: Israel used an airborne laser last week to shoot down drones in a series of tests, officials said on Monday, calling it a “milestone” to update its already powerful defence systems.

During the tests, which took place “over the last week”, a prototype of the high-power laser system carried on a small civilian plane “successfully intercepted several UAVs”, said Yaniv Rotem, head of the defence ministry’s research and development unit, using the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicles.

The system could down any flying object, including “drones, mortars, rockets, ballistic missiles”, Rotem said, adding they hoped to have a working prototype in “three to four years”.

It was not possible to verify the military’s claims.

A video released by the Israelis showed the laser system on the back of the small plane, directing a beam of energy towards a test drone, apparently burning a hole and setting it on fire.

The tests saw the airborne lasers intercept drones from a range of one kilometre (3,280 feet), but once operational, developers claimed it could reach targets as far as 20 kilometres away, Rotem said.

The laser, Rotem said, uses existing Israeli aerial defence technologies to track and lock its target, before firing a 100-kilowatt laser beam that would down it, Rotem told reporters.

Oren Sabag, head of Elbit Systems which was working with the Israeli defence ministry on the lasers, called the recent successful trials “a significant milestone” in the product’s development. Israel’s defence establishment was in parallel developing a ground-based laser defence system for aerial threats.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2021