The new complement of weapons of War

A system that complements the traditional ones.

The United Kingdom is accelerating the implementation of a new weapon called Dragon Fire, a laser system that could begin operating on warships as early as 2027 and the most curious thing is not just the technology, it is the cost, each shot costs something close to 10 pounds, basically the price of electricity, while a single interceptor missile can cost hundreds of thousands and it is exactly that imbalance that is changing everything, because the modern battlefield has changed.

Today one of the biggest threats are not large isolated attacks, but swarms, cheap drones in large numbers that can overload any traditional defense system and that is where the problem arises, it is worth spending a very expensive missile to shoot down a cheap drone, that is where the laser comes in. The United Kingdom's plan is to install this system on type 45 destroyers, ships and equipped with some of the most advanced air defense systems in the world, that is, the laser replaces missiles, complements them by creating a new, cheaper and more sustainable layer of defense in continuous attack scenarios.

This also solves another important problem, logistics.

Less dependence on ammunition stock, less need for resupply and more autonomy in prolonged operations and this movement is not happening in isolation, other countries such as the United States and China are also advancing similar systems, which indicates something greater, directed energy weapons are ceasing to be a concept and beginning to become an operational reality and when that happens, the impact is not only technological, it is strategic, because for the first time defense stops depending on how many weapons you carry and begins to depend on how much energy you can generate, but changes like this rarely remain. isolated.

Technologies that alter the battlefield almost always end up influencing something bigger: politics.