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South Korea to mass produce lasers that can take out drones at $1.50 a hit (www.cnn.com)

submitted 4 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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South Korea is beginning the mass production of a low-cost laser weapon that has successfully shot down small drones during testing, the country’s key arms agency said Thursday.

The laser weapon, called Block-I, “can precisely strike small unmanned aerial vehicles and multicopters at close range,” a news release from South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.

The release did not give a cost for the weapon, but said each shot fired would only cost about $1.50.

Imagery supplied by the agency appears to show a weapon around the size of a shipping container with a laser mounted on top and what appears to be a radar or tracking device mounted on one side of the platform.

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[-] autotldr 2 points 4 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

South Korea is beginning the mass production of a low-cost laser weapon that has successfully shot down small drones during testing, the country’s key arms agency said Thursday.

Future versions could be developed to take out much bigger targets, including aircraft and ballistic missiles, which would be a potential “game changer,” according to the release.

DAPA will develop “a laser anti-aircraft weapon (Block-II) system with improved output and range compared to the current one,” the release said.

In Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere, small drones - some available off the shelf - have shown the ability to disable or destroy multimillion-dollar pieces of military hardware, including tanks.

Earlier this year, Britain showed off a new laser weapon that its military says could deliver lethal missile or aircraft defense at around $13 a shot.

The original article contains 529 words, the summary contains 163 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] FanciestPants@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

How much for a miss?

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Well assuming one with explosives can take out a single person, they get a 10% accuracy (number pulled out of my ass), and a VSL (value of statistical life) of 1.5 million you get 150,000 USD.

Really throws off the cost function when the false negative penalty is a million times bigger.

[-] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Should have watched this

[-] upside431@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

I hope it works well

[-] profdc9@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Fiber laser, ceramic disc laser, CO2 laser?

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this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024

438 points (99.3% liked)

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