In 18 months, Israel deplayed an anti-drone system which intercepted dozens of targets throughout the war. There is a laser division in the Israeli Air Force which is operating new laser system built by Rafael. Israel is working on Iron Beam which is Israel’s next-generation interception system that was scheduled to become operational by year’s end.
The operational laser system is not an Iron Dome replacement and it does not represent the full Iron Beam system, which remains under development.
The Magen Or laser system has a power of 100 kilowatts. It can disable cruise missles at a distance of 8-12 kilometers and small drones and 15-20 kilometers. Russia is using laser combat systems in the 20-35 kilowatt range.
Ukraine has unveiled Sky Sentinel which is a fully automated AI-controlled turret that has already downed Russian drones without human intervention. It is a scalable system.
Sky Sentinel AI-operated autonomous .50-caliber BMG turret mounted Anti-Aircraft Gun. The system was designed and built in Ukraine to counter Shahed-type drones.
“There’s no need for a soldier to manually operate the turret,” the team said. “Deploy Sky Sentinel in a combat position, feed it radar data – and it does the rest: detects, tracks, calculates the trajectory, and fires. All autonomously.”
It is equipped with a high-power .50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun and an advanced sensor array. The turret can engage moderately fast, low-flying targets moving at speeds of up to 800 km/h (220 m/s; 430 knots) – enough to intercept Shahed drones, which operate at less than 200 km/h, or other small targets.
The exact operational range of Sky Sentinel remains classified. The M2 is known to have an effective range of 1.5 kilometers against airborne threats.
Each unit costs approximately $150,000. Developers estimate that protecting a city would require 10 to 30 turrets – still significantly cheaper than a single interceptor missile from conventional air defense systems.
The US Phalanx guns system is about 70 times more expensive than the Sky Sentinal. Phalanx has a range of 1 to 5 nautical miles (2 to 9 km). Phalanx can engage targets up to 5 times further than Sky Sentinal.
Phalanx Specifications (Block 1A/B)
Gun: 1× 20 mm M61A2 Vulcan 6-barreled Gatling cannon
Height: 15.5 ft (4.7 m)
Weight: 12,500 lb (5,700 kg), later models 13,600 lb (6,200 kg)
Elevation: −25° to +85°
Muzzle velocity: 3,600 ft/s (1,100 m/s)
Rate of fire: 4,500 rounds/minute
Maximum burst size: 1000 rounds
Ammunition capacity: 1,550 rounds
Radar: Ku band
Cost: $12 Million
Target Mach: 2
Each Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone used by Russia costs around $100,000, Sky Sentinel offers a scalable and cost-effective solution to a persistent and deadly threat.
Russia continues to upgrade its Shahed-136 drones, adding 4G modems and video cameras.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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A single sweep from one of these devices would burn the eyeballs of everyone in the vicinity. A very cheap way to incapacitate people. Blinding weapons are are war crime, same as chemical weapons, but it would be easy to claim that a drone was spotted and the collateral damage was accidental (Or places like Gaza and Ukraine where the Israelis and Russians just don’t care about war crimes no more (And Hamas too, but they’re not signatures of the convention) ).
Reading the specs, I’m pretty sure it would burn more than eyeballs.
All war is a crime. But only the victors decide who is prosecuted.
“All war is a crime.” Right. But most people would rather be criminals than murdered, so maybe some war is justifiable?
They won’t care, if explosive laden drones are coming for their strategic facilities and assets at any moment.
This is another old war taboo that will be broken besides not attacking exposed and parked nuclear weapon carriers.
What is Ukraine worth?
How much will it cost to conquer ?
How much is the upkeep to maintain occupation, and how much income can it generate?
Also the cost of western sanctions
Where is the break even?
What is Ukraine worth? The current bill passed by the House includes tax cuts for the rich amounting to around $4 Trillion over the next 10 years. Over the last two years, Ukraine has cost the US around 139 Billion. So if maintained over 10 years – $700 Billion. Not even a quarter of the tax cuts making the rich even richer.