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Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

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Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#141

Post by wat10000 »

jmyeet wrote: post #59
endtime wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is designed to save people.

There is no such thing as a defensive weapon. You might be tempted to say "what about a missile shield?" but such a thing allows the owner to act with impunity with levels of violence we arguably haven't seen since 1945. As a real example of this, the only reason a deeper conflict didn't develop with Iran this year was because Iran demonstrated they could overwhelm the various layers of Israel's missile shield and Ir…

That’s gross. You’re basically saying that hundreds of millions of people need to be held as hostages to ensure good behavior, and that trying to rescue those hostages is morally wrong.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#142

Post by fpoling »

causal wrote: post #64

A lot of comments decrying new weapons tech, but I think drone defense tech is particularly critical right now and going to save a lot of lives. Put another way, I don't think we would be against new clothing that made bullets less effective, even if it remains terrible that such clothing is needed. Especially as AI becomes better and cheaper and suicide drones become more nimble and autonomous. If you have seen any…

That laser station will not last in Ukraine an hour and will be destroyed either by missiles or drone swarm.

What Ukraine have found a net launcher is effective and cheap solution against drones and may allow more use of tanks and heavy armor vehicles again in 2026. Then shotguns with a special ammunition is effective. Then against fiber drones a fence with moving wire works surprisingly good to cut the fiber.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#144

Post by megous »

judah wrote: post #40

Israel saw over 16,000 rocket attacks last year from fundamentalist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and Yemen. The Iron Dome intercepted ~90% of them, resulting in thousands of lives saved. Iron Beam is the newer incarnation of this technology that uses lasers to intercept incoming rockets and drones with precision and much lower cost. Wonderful technology.

[flagged]

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#145

Post by fpoling »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #68
underdeserver wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the war in June, Iran fired 500kg warhead ballistic missiles. These were the only lethal munition they used, killing a couple dozen civilians. The Iron Beam is not relevant against ballistic missiles.

> Iran fired 500kg warhead ballistic missiles Iran also fired “over 1,000 suicide drones” [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Israel_war

Shaheds are heavy and big and I doubt that the new laser system can damage them. An interceptor drone is much cheaper and effective against them. This is more like defense against smaller FPV drones targeting bigger anti-missile systems.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#148

Post by amoshi »

ars wrote: post #139
karim79 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

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There are recordings of Israeli drones engaging in psychological warfare against the civilian population by playing those horrible sounds

https://x.com/AJIunit/status/1863553707897680291

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#149

Post by ars »

amoshi wrote: post #148
ars wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There are recordings of Israeli drones engaging in psychological warfare against the civilian population by playing those horrible sounds https://x.com/AJIunit/status/1863553707897680291

I watched your video, the only thing on it is a drone warning people away from a dangerous area.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#150

Post by galkk »

cogman10 wrote: post #87
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, to what degree is this technology gatekept by battery advances? A few decades ago lasers were dismissed because they involved chemical reagents for high power and explosive capacitors for even low-power applications.

> Huh, to what degree is this technology gatekept by battery advances? Not too much. The power delivery was doable even 15 years ago. It would have just been more expensive and heavier. The bigger issue I believe would have been the lens and tracking capabilities. For the tracking to work you need some pretty good cameras, pretty fast computers, and pretty good object recognition. We are talking about using high spee…

Wouldn’t they be able to just use radars?
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