South Korea will deploy drone-melting laser weapons this year that are designed to shoot down North Korean uncrewed aerial vehicles, the country’s arms procurement agency said in July 2024.
The new laser weapons, dubbed the “StarWars Project” by South Korea, are silent, invisible to an adversary, require no additional ammunition, operate solely on electricity and cost only about $1.45 per shot, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The system, developed by Hanwha Aerospace, will be “put into operational deployment in the military this year,” said Lee Sang-yoon, a DAPA official.
In December 2022, Seoul said five North Korean drones crossed into the South, the first such incident in five years, prompting its military to fire warning shots and deploy fighter jets.
The South’s “ability to respond to North Korea’s drone provocations will be significantly enhanced” by the laser weapons system, DAPA said.
It has downed 100% of drones in previous tests and with future improvements could become a “game-changing” weapons system capable of countering aircraft and ballistic missiles, DAPA said.
The “StarWars” system neutralizes targets with laser light generated from optical fiber.
“When a laser weapon transfers heat to a drone, its surface melts. As the surface melts, the internal components catch fire, causing the drone to eventually fall,” Lee said.
“This laser weapon uses electricity, so simply increasing the output allows it to travel at the speed of light.”
“Laser weapons can travel even further in space where there is no air,” which gives it a significant advantage over conventional weapons, Lee said.
Another analyst said it might be too early to be sure about the weapon’s capabilities.
“Laser weapons have not yet been put to practical use worldwide, and further verification and more time are needed to determine whether they can be utilized as a practical weapon system,” Hong Sung-pyo, senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs, said.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Relations between the two countries are at a low point, with Pyongyang ramping up weapons testing as it draws closer to Russia. After Pyongyang sent multiple barrages of trash-carrying balloons across the border, Seoul last month suspended a tension-reducing military deal and resumed live-fire drills on border islands and by the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.
