Australian-made Star Wars-style lasers are helping NATO tackle drone threats
www.abc.net.au
A Canberra-made laser is about to become NATO's newest frontline defence against enemy drones, in a deal experts say could transform the future of warfare.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4825742

  • The high-powered laser is faster and cheaper than traditional missiles or cannons
  • An undisclosed NATO country is expected to receive the weapon in the next 18 months

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Australia is helping to take the world into the era of Star Wars-style combat.

A Canberra-made laser is about to become NATO’s newest frontline defence against enemy drones, in a deal experts say could transform the future of warfare.

The high-powered laser, nicknamed Apollo after the Greek God of Light, can destroy up to 20 drones a minute, at a cost of $1 per shot, which is faster and cheaper than traditional missiles or cannons.

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  • Riddick3001@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    12 days ago

    thought a shot of this kind of stuff would be way more expensive in terms of power supply

    Yeah me too. And it was said also that the energy levels needed for a beam to penatrate was very high, especially for long distances.

    +Here some more info on the EOS’ ‘Apollo’ High Energy Laser Weapon (HELW), 100~150 kwh. Nothing like starwars ofc, still issues with humidity, fog and hills fyi.

    Still could be a neat thing if it works well in the field. I wonder how it will do during (North) European (winter) conditions.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
      2·
      12 days ago

      I pay $0.10575/kwh - now this varies around the world, but let us round it to $.10 which is reasonable and makes math easy. $1 then would be 10 kwh over 1 minute - that is a lot of power. Of course they are probably using a generator so $.50/kwh is more likely, but still we are getting 2kwh over 1 minute - that is a lot of power and a big generator.

      • Riddick3001@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 days ago

        Yes, indeed it’s a heavy energy using Laser the Aussies made.

        US energy prices are very low, like 60% cheaper compared to European prices which are around€ 0,22 per kWh ( 2024)