Hilariously full of cope article from an irrelevant former power.
According to Grant Shapps, the weapon could have "huge ramifications" for the conflict in Europe.
Press X to Doubt.
The laser was originally expected to be operational by 2032… ….the defence secretary told reporters while on a visit to Porton Down military research centre near Salisbury that he wanted to speed this up even further. "Let's say that it didn't have to be 100% perfect in order for Ukrainians perhaps to get their hands on it," he said.
Very funny assessment of the readiness and efficacy of this Wunderwaffe.
Any suggestion that UK lasers could be sent to Ukraine to take out Russian drones is optimistic.
Ahh the admission in the article that the whole notion of uk made laser weapons being used in Ukraine is just a nato fantasy.
In the same vain I’m looking forward to future BBC articles about how the uk is sending a battle ready gundam to Ukraine next week
All laser weapons used on Earth will operate in one of two bands, one in the visible green spectrum and one in the near IR spectrum, which have the lowest atmospheric impedance. This largely negates all but extreme weather.
Will dust storms impede lasers? Absolutely, but the density of dust in the air that would meaningfully attenuate a real, capable laser weapon would also effect radar and visibility, and implies wind conditions that would impede flight capabilities. Dust storms don't happen without wind.
If it's raining, and you can see an object, you can hit it with a laser. If the rain is dense enough that you can't see an incoming aircraft, the aircraft can't fly.
Now, if we're solely talking about the contemporary systems that the MIC ghouls are hawking as "laser weapons," then yeah, that Lockheed or Raytheon laser that shot down a drone in ideal conditions won't be able to.