The UK plans to transfer the first samples of the DragonFire laser directed-energy weapon to Ukraine.

Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, announced this.

During a trip to the DragonFire lab on Thursday, Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, said that the energy laser system was still in the testing phase, but the government was working to speed up development.

According to him, the UK is planning to add DragonFire to its arsenal by 2027, but is working to see if it can send prototypes to Ukraine sooner – even if they are not 100 per cent refined.

“Let’s say that it didn’t have to be 100 percent perfect in order for Ukrainians, perhaps, to get their hands on it. 2027 is still the date, as of this moment, but of course, I’ll look to see what we can do to speed it up,” Shapps said.

DragonFire

DragonFire is a British 50+ kW power laser weapon. Development of the weapon began in 2018, led by leading UK companies such as: MBDA UK, Leonardo UK and QinetiQ Group.

The system was designed to destroy drones, but now the British military command sees it as a powerful enough tool to intercept artillery ammunition, cruise missiles, and even ballistic missiles.

The weapon works by focusing 37 channels of 1.5kW laser beams, arranged in a hexagonal array, and combining them with mirrors to merge and amplify the power.

A huge advantage of the system over classical air and missile defense systems is its low cost of operation: according to the British Ministry of Defense, the cost of a shot is around £10 (about UAH 496). By comparison, the cost of modern anti-aircraft missiles can range up to several million dollars per unit.

In March 2024, the British Ministry of Defense showed the results of one of the DragonFire tests, during which the system successfully intercepted a quadcopter and an artillery mine.

The maximum range of destruction of air targets remains unknown. During the tests, the system destroyed a drone and caused an artillery mine to explode in less than five seconds.

The radiation from the power plant is invisible and silent, as the beam wavelength is 1 micron. It is close to the infrared spectrum of light, and therefore invisible to the human eye.

It is noted that the newest laser system had high accuracy: it could hit a coin at a distance of one kilometer.

Matt Cork, a project manager at DSTL, said that DragonFire might be handed over for “user experimentation” to a number of army personnel in September. The terrestrial version of DragonFire is still intended as a ground-based air defense technology and will be mounted on a truck, at which point British Army experts will give feedback on how it could be improved and highlight any problems.