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| DRDO Bhavan Delhi |
DRDO DEW WEAPONS SYSTEM
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| Laser or Dew Weapons |
The DRDO has been working on a few DEW projects for long, ranging from 'chemical oxygen iodine' and 'high-power fiber' lasers to a clandestine 'Kali' particle beam weapon for 'soft-kills' against approaching missiles and airplane. Yet, they are not even close to becoming operational. The requirement for a focussed approach on DEWs has now gained urgency in the midst of the progressing military encounter with China in eastern Ladakh,
DRDO has so far created two anti drone DEW systems, which will presently be productionised in enormous numbers with the assistance of the industry. While one is a trailer-mounted DEW, with a 10 kilowatt laser to draw to engage aerial targets at 2-km range, the other is a minimized tripod-mounted one with a 2 kilowatt laser for a 1 km range. The two systems can bring down micro drones by either jamming their order and control links or harming their gadgets through the laser-based DEW, officials said.
These are, however, extremely modest compared with the significantly more remarkable DEWs created by counties like the US, Russia, China, Germany and Israel to destroy multiple drone , vehicles and vessels. The US, for example, tried a 33 kilowatt laser weapon from a warship to shoot drones a few years back. In May 2020, the US Navy tested another 'high-energy solid state laser' to disable a drone aircraft in mid-air. The US, actually, might be only four to five years away from deploying 300 to 500 kilowatt DEWs fit for shooting down cruise missiles.
The Indian defence establishment’s technological roadmap for the next decade says the Army and IAF need at least 20 ‘tactical high-energy laser systems’ that can destroy ‘small aerial targets’, electronic warfare and radars systems at a range of 6-8 km in Phase-I.
In Phase-II, the laser systems should have a range of over 20 km to take on ‘soft-skinned’ vehicles and troops from ground and aerial platforms. Similarly, at least 20 high-power electromagnetic weapon systems are required for the forces, with 6-8 km range in Phase-I and over 15-km in Phase-II.
As reported by TOI last month, the ongoing Army study on ‘niche and disruptive warfare technologies’ has identified DEWs as one of the focus areas, with General M M Naravane stressing the need to invest heavily in such futuristic tools. But it will take a lot for such concentrated energy weapons to become an operational reality.
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