Israel has developed the world’s first operational laser interceptor, having completed a series of successful trials of the Iron Beam high-power laser system in a facility in southern Israel, the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Rafael defense technology firm announced on Wednesday.
“The system proved its effectiveness in a complete operational configuration by intercepting rockets, mortars, aircraft, and UAVs across a comprehensive range of operational scenarios,” the two bodies said in a joint statement.
The Iron Beam—to be renamed “Ohr Eitan” (“Eitan’s Light”) after Eitan Oster, who fell in battle in Lebanon and whose father was one of its developers—is set to be integrated into the Israel Defense Forces air defense arrays by the end of this year.
A global technological and engineering breakthrough, the laser system is expected to be utilized as a complementary capability to Israel’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow air defense systems.
“Achieving operational laser interception capability places the State of Israel at the forefront of global military technology and makes Israel the first nation to possess this capability,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz remarked.
“This is not only a moment of national pride, but a historic milestone for our defense envelope: rapid, precise interception at marginal cost that joins our existing defense systems and changes the threat equation... Our enemies from Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, and other arenas should know: just as we are strong in defense, we are strong in offense—and we will do everything to protect the security of Israeli citizens,” he added.
The Iron Beam was developed by the R&D Unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense, the Directorate of Defense Research & Development, the Israeli Air Force and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems—with weapons technology firm Elbit Systems serving as a project partner manufacturing the laser source.
Changing the history of warfare
Israel had successfully operated short-range laser systems against hostile drones in the past year, but the new Iron Beam system has a longer range that can also track and destroy rockets, mortars and aircraft—at a fraction of the cost of ground-to-air missiles.
During an address last month at a Tel Aviv University event about the lessons of the 12-day war with Iran, Rafael chairman Yuval Steinitz said that the progress in laser technology would induce a “total change in the entire history of war as we have known it until today.”
The former strategic affairs minister said that after 60 years in which all the world powers, led by the United States and including Israel, tried to create laser weapons and failed, “there was a breakthrough at Rafael five years ago that allowed us to create the world’s first effective laser weapon.”
“In the last war, both in Lebanon and in the 12 days [of fighting] against Iran, a single laser device—the smallest of our devices—shot down dozens of drones, with exceptional success rates,” he went on to say.
The rollout of the Iron Beam is slated for November, Steinitz continued, and will provide Israel a much better protection against short- and medium-range rockets.
He further estimated that in about four to five years the laser system will be able to deal with long-range missiles.
“When we get there, the laser revolution will be so significant. Until now, throughout the history of armies—from ancient Greece or ancient Egypt to our days—we used projectiles, physical objects: we shot arrows, threw spears; today we drop bombs, shells, missiles. These are tangible, hard things—bullets flying through the air that hit a target. With a laser we kill the target essentially by a beam of light, by light rays that travel at 185,000 miles per second,” said Steinitz.
The Rafael chairman projected that in five to 10 years “nothing hostile will fly in the air—no aircraft, no drones, no cruise missiles, no shells, no bombs—because the laser will completely clear the air of anything detected, anything seen.”
