Weapons

Russia develops directed-energy weapons

Asked by TASS to comment on a message from the DSEi 2015 international show in London to the effect that the Royal Navy intends to adopt lasers for service by 2020, the Russian defense industry source said: "Russian engineers developing weapons reliant on new physical principles are aware of the foreign efforts in the directed-energy weapons field".

Of the basic types of the above weapons, he singled out laser, acoustic, holographic and kinetic systems. "First off, these are lasers designed not to destroy objects but to ‘blind’ them because the latter requires far less energy," he added.

In his words, blinding and immobilizing surface or submerged targets makes their destruction easier. However, the power plants of ships will have to be changed and their power will have to be redistributed in favor of the future weapons for directed-energy weapons to be installed on future ships.