South Korea plans to mass produce laser weapons that can shoot down drones deployed by North Korea at a low cost, according to its military procurement agency.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced the laser programme, dubbed the “Star Wars project”, which has been developed with Hanwha Aerospace.
The “Block-I”, the first laser system, will be “put into operational deployment in the military this year”, Lee Sang-yoon, a DAPA official, told the AFP news agency on Friday.
According to the procurement organisation, the laser will be invisible and noise-free, operate solely on electricity without needing additional ammunition, and would cost only about 2,000 won ($1.45) per shot. It will supposedly melt the body of drones and fry the electronics inside.
Seoul’s “ability to respond to North Korea’s drone provocations will be significantly enhanced” by the new weapons system, which has shot down all its targets in tests, DAPA said in a statement on Thursday.
The organisation said it also plans to expand the laser programme in the future to be able to hit much larger targets, including aircraft and ballistic missiles, which would be a potential “game changer”. It even envisions the laser beams travelling in space to reach targets.
The system has yet to be used in real-life scenarios but it comes as cheap drones are dominating active battlefields around the world, including in Russia’s war in Ukraine, along with Israel’s war in Gaza and border fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
As a variety of unmanned weapons systems are being developed and deployed in combat, defence systems have been able to counter some of them, but at a much higher cost. Laser systems could theoretically offer a more sustainable countermeasure.
South Korea joins the ranks of the United States, the United Kingdom and China among countries that are racing to develop and deploy laser weapons to shoot down aerial threats.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice and a demilitarised zone, not a peace treaty.
In December 2022, South Korea said it deployed fighter jets and helicopters after detecting five drones launched by North Korea making it into its airspace, but it failed to shoot any of them down.
Tensions have been steadily rising between the two this year, with South Korea fully suspending a 2018 military agreement in June, and North Korea sending rubbish-filled balloons over the border.
