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Science & Technology

Iron Beam laser's speed could mute sirens, end most runs to bomb shelters

2025-06-06

[Jpost] According to Rafael, a major advantage of its lasers is that they can shoot down enemy rockets and drones much earlier in the threat process.

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ new family of lasers, which started to be rolled out last week and will continue to be presented to the public by the end of 2025, could eliminate the need for Israelis to run to bomb shelters during most aerial threats, the defense company revealed on Wednesday.

According to Rafael, a major advantage of its lasers – Iron Beam, Iron Beam M, and Lite Beam – is that they can shoot down enemy rockets and drones much earlier in the threat process, such that most of the time, no sirens or bomb shelters would be necessary.

This is because the light energy of the laser travels much faster than any interceptor in Israel’s arsenal and would already potentially destroy the enemy aerial threat shortly after it launches, invariably while it is still in enemy territory.

Only in those rare cases where the laser system missed its target, and likely missed it multiple times – since there should be time for multiple shoot-down attempts – would a siren and running to bomb shelters be necessary.

Rafael’s presentation of the three different laser systems comes as it expects to display the lasers’ capabilities at a defense technology conference in Paris in 10 days, and it is the first time that it has formally mentioned the Iron Beam M – a mobile version of the Iron Beam.

Although Raytheon in the US, as well as the UK, Russia, China, Germany, and Japan, are all at various stages of developing laser defense systems, Rafael said it is the only company that has moved beyond test firings to actual use in the field.

Last week, the Defense Ministry revealed that a version of Lite Beam had been used close to 40 times to shoot down Hezbollah drones during the course of the war, and especially in fall 2024.

Questioned about future applications, Rafael sources said it would take a significant amount of time to adapt lasers for use by Israeli aircraft. There are many challenges with using lasers relating to turbulence, dust, clouds, and smoke, which are a partial issue even when the end target is in the sky but are a larger issue when the starting point is also in the sky.

Also, if laser systems firing at enemy aerial threats must consider somewhat additional objects that could get hit by the laser after it continues through the object it hits, those considerations are much more complex for any aircraft firing on ground targets.

For this reason and due to other considerations, the impression was that the IDF has not even made it a priority to achieve such laser aircraft capabilities for the foreseeable future; however, this could all change once the IDF sees more laser defense systems in action at the end of 2025.

Posted by:Skidmark

#3 ...enemy aerial threat shortly after it launches, invariably while it is still in enemy territory. Ignoring the fact that the Earth is curved so there is a thing called the horizon at 21 or so miles. The air is thicker closer to the ground so "early shots" have to fight against a lensing effect as well. This was all covered in the old debate about the "Star Wars" ABM systems decades ago.

Posted by: magpie 2025-06-06 20:51

#2 Wonder if the idiot who wrote this asked about range.

Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2025-06-06 18:04

#1 Now, about those mosquitoes.

Posted by: Skidmark 2025-06-06 14:12

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