Iron Beam: How Israel’s New Laser Weapon Works | WSJ 

weather shouldn't be an issue as according to official Iranian media Israel controls the weather and can make clouds disappear.

The systems sensor is not the problem in different weather conditions, the problem is LASER has trouble penetrating through fog, cloud, dust etc just like light.

This video really glosses over how groundbreaking this technology is. When they're breaking down the parts of the system they just say "laser gun" and ignore it like it's normal

It's always best to have multiple types of system to counter a particular threat. The laser system is relatively inexpensive to actually use, so there is likely the ability to deploy more systems for the same cost as the Iron Dome system. Networking the fire control systems would allow the optimal engagement of targets to maximize the chances of a shot resulting in a kill.

Multiple iron beams on a single target should cut the shootdown time?

The things you said about weather problems are really not an issue since in israel there is very little fog or rain in comparison with western countries. These things also affect hamas rockets which is why we pretty much never have alarms go off in the winter

Very well done Israel! Support from Sweden🇸🇪🇮🇱🇸🇪

Under scenario of $50,000per firing over $2per firing cost ratio, the imperfection of Iron Beam can be tolerated since there is no such thing as a' Perfect 'air defense system in our world. 👨🏼‍✈👩🏼‍✈️

Iron Beam technology will likely become standard for large (probably nuclear powered) vessels.

Love US and Israel from Korea 🇰🇷

Soon life will be like star wars

Korea, Japan, NATO, and Georgia would be standing in line with cash to buy this product!

It's not only cost effective but environment friendly also🙃🙃🙃🖖

Without a doubt laser is the future. It has the speed of light and requires no ammunition or logistics, maybe a solid state battery to make it mobile. The biggest issues are that it looses power proportional to the distance and storage capacity of the battery.

Well there is now footage of this thing working. Kinda cool

"We love death more than you love life" - Hamas

The system doesn't work as well in Nov-Dec cloudy weather. Gaza: Write that down, write that down!

I like that this is, for the moment, a defensive weapon.

I hope this laser beam can be attached to drones to extend its reach and strategy 🤔

I am certain this has been thought of however converging several beams would help no?

Great technology. I hope to see US support for the laser weaponry. The per Shot cost is where there will be great impact in taking out multi-million dollar weapons. This alone is reason to pursue additional investment. 🇮🇱 🇺🇸

Always interesting to get a preview of the next war's new toys.

good vid. the beam is just one part of a system to deal with a variety of threats

recent news from israel also implies that if u have multiple iron beam working together they can be more effective like how the iron dome use multiple launchers to handle more incoming rockets

Israel has deployed this laser beam today. Here after announcement.

Necessity creates creativity.😁 The constant fear and shelling of rockets by Hamas made Israel fire all cylinders to come up with these solutions. Of course also thanks to generous US military aid.

Can't wait to buy this in my local Walmart. Murica

Iron beam and iron dom both are amazing

Do not forget, that this is a very young technology. You can see it's development on regular handheld laser pointers from China. For 5 years, power of those increased tenfold, and prices dropped significantly. Same goes for military grade lasers. So, I suppose we'll see a 1MW laser on the battlefield in next 5 years or so.

Well simple. You get multiple iron beans in different locations and focus them on the same target.

May Our God Almighty help Israelites in developing low cost but verry effective defense system that will protect from evil terrorists

Reminds me of the Star Wars program in the 80s.

Congratulations. We're on the path to successfully creating a fully-operational Death Star

this looks like something out of star wars and i love it

Cool, sounds like they can fund themselves now.

But the low cost means that they can literally cover the entire country with them. Save the iron dome for the most hard to take down ones and let the iron beam take care of the rest.

What if you make the rocket/missile very reflective? (Like a mirror) would it still heat up? Or make it very thermally conductive, (copper or aluminum) with a super cool liquid circulating in some very tiny passage ways? Are a heat sink.

i love israel mindset theyre investing on full defence not like US and Russia did nothing to destroy shells and projectiles

Lasers will never be a one-size fits-all solution due to things like rain, fog, and solid-shot kinetic penetrators. It'll need to be a combination of lasers (to minimize cost) and railguns or missiles (to hit whatever the laser cannot).

We do agree, that laser weapon has a magnificent future. 1 MW laser will be a miracle on the battlefield, considering good weather conditions.

#yehisraelchai Stand strong Israel!

Working now

1:09 a typical american house uses only 1 kw? where im from a typical aircon uses more then that..

They got the iron dome. They got the iron beam. All they are missing is iron man 😁

i read in the paper - the next step is to take this system, put it on a drone, and that way the range increases.

President Biden didn't even know where he was

also 150kw generator from cummins is good to power this system as it can be carried in a container too along with the system

Wow

👍👍👍Awesome

Could you imagine turning this on ground troops? Crispy critters baby, smoking hammas and hezbola. They would never see it coming. 😅

We got IRL Star Wars weapons before we got GTA 6 💀💀

Go Israel!

Incredible!!!

Can iron beam capable to destroy hypersonic missile and icbm nuke missile?

Wonder if this is based off Nikola Tesla Death beam technology? 🤔

The video forgot to mention that there are plans to mount this new system on drones in a few years, thus eliminating the weather factor

They got the iron dome. They got the iron beam. All they’re missing now is iron man.

Make the unit light enough to make it airborn patrol a sector of airspace, range problem solved

Wonderful nation and planning and implementation

Aside from having more of them spread around to attack targets from multiple vantage points they could pump up the power to reduce the dwell time. Conversely, instead of one constant beam the laser could be reconfigured to output an order of magnitude more power but in a short burst. Yes, "reconfiguring the laser" means redesigns and more testing, but if the goal is a cheap to use defense system with better reliability then it stands to reason that it could be a much more effective defense if it were a more powerful laser that only required a brief momentary firing to knock munitions out of the sky. Instead of 5sec of 1kw or even 2sec of 3kw I think 100ms of 100kw would be a beast to contend with. Tack on a bunch of supercapacitor arrays that just charge up at the same rate as the 1kw system and have it just be able to fire off a dozen shots before it needs to recharge. Anyway, I'm sure they'll get there eventually, because it's the next logical step in the progression. I know what it takes to engineer and develop these kinds of systems, and it's definitely a lot of work, and right now it looks like they're just trying to get what usable system they have thus far some funding for deployment, because it does offer value. I hope they have good luck with their pursuits.

This will be very effective against drones.

kalau secara logika, roket harus bisa memantulkan cahaya untuk mencegah iron beam,... bisa dengan lapisan kaca atau yg memantulkan cahaya

Dr Evil: How about Sharks with frickin Laser Beams?

Interesting naming. One would assume the advantage of a spherical structure is that it doesn't requires any beams.

Laser tech is probably the closest we can get to intercepting ICBMs, which might make nuclear warfare winnable. Just imagine battleships equipped with lasers sailing close to enemy territory. Would completely change the equation.

Palestine : i got social credit Israel : i got lasers

inverse square law as well

Can we increase the power output of the beam. Making it stronger could cut down time and make it more effective.

99.8% funded by us taxpayers.

Can't this be counteracted with reflective coating on the missiles?

Average home is 6kw per household. For 3 residents.

The United States pays for 20% of Israel's military budget while Israel has a space program, universal health care, and still runs a budget surplus for six of the last ten years.

Isn't reflective paint be enough to prevent any laser damage?

What if the missiles are covered in mirror coating?

The world is about to see exactly what the Iron Beam CAN DO! 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱

Can we get a handheld model made for mobile use?I think that would be a good game changer

is it viable as an attack system as well? star-trek style :D

Way to go Israel - hope someday India will develop & launch the same indigenously without relying on foreign help.

I hope they maintain both system for higher safety

Its like something out of that movie Spaceballs.

The only limitation for such weapons are power. What if you can generate a lot of power by using a mobile nuclear reactor.

3:38 seems like when reporters just fill up names on a list, based not on any evidence but on perception and popular belief (which are very susceptible to propaganda)

Perfect

Iron beam works like a charm, its deployed on Israel and there are dome cool videos around.

Why explain how it works are you not giving free info to your enemy?

The average household doesn't use 1kw on average, it uses closer to 15kw at any given time. It can take more than 15kw just to power on a central air conditioner. It takes nearly 1kw just to run a refrigerator.

Great idea but still very early

The US: A laser based missile defense system?! *RONALD REAGAN WANTS TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION*

Am Yisrael Chai!! The Nation of Israel Lives!!💪🇮🇱

אל אל ישראל

WOWZER

Imo combining several low power units acting in sync is far better than having one monstrous power unit

I think the laser works very well from what I heard. Much better then U.S. Patriotic missile batteries!

Red beam, once it turns blue that is when you know they finally perfected it. The highest ionized energy produces blue light.

everyone's gangster till they start putting mirrors on the rockets

Sounds good till they drop an EMP, just saying

It would have better range in space

The problem for the United States is that they do not yet have a starting product of a laser system, and this will force them to reach the same stage in Israel for decades to come. Because Israel pushed the really strong laser project that Israel did and opened a gap with the competition

It slows and is the missile have a strong still it will be on the ground before the laser can get it

Powers are going up quick, 1MW is in development. Atmospheric blooming can also be overcome with adaptive optics. Not sure what can be done about fog but I expect someone will think of something. Also kinetics and bullet interceptors are making a come back!