'Star Wars' Laser Weapons: South Korea's Defense Against N. Korean Drones

Photo:AP

South Korea will deploy laser weapons to shoot down North Korean drones this year, becoming the world’s first country to deploy and operate such weapons in the military, the country’s arms procurement agency announced on Thursday.

South Korea has named its laser programme the “StarWars project”.

The drone-zapping laser weapons, developed by the South Korean military with Hanwha Aerospace, are effective, quiet, and invisible, costing just 2,000 won ($1.45) per shot, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

“Our country is becoming the first in the world to deploy and operate laser weapons, enhancing our military’s response capabilities against North Korea’s drone provocations,” DAPA stated, describing the weapons as game changers for future battlefields.

These laser weapons can shoot down flying drones by burning their engines or other electronic components with beams of light for 10 to 20 seconds, explained a DAPA spokesperson at a briefing.

In December, five North Korean drones crossed into South Korea, prompting Seoul to scramble fighter jets and attack helicopters in an attempt to shoot them down. This marked the first such intrusion since 2017. The Korean War (1950-1953) ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war, separated by a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

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Both North and South Korea have violated the armistice by sending drones into each other’s airspace, according to the United States.

Countries including South Korea, China, and the United Kingdom are racing to develop and deploy laser weapons, also known as directed energy weapons, as noted by the U.S. nonprofit think tank RAND Corporation. These weapons are of significant interest for countering the proliferation of unmanned systems, targeting missiles in flight, and potentially satellites in orbit.

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