U.S. To 1.2 Billion U.S. Dollars To Fund Israel's Iron Beam Laser Weapon System

A new round of large-scale Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, laser weapons have once again become a major focus of attention.
Following the recent accelerated deployment of Israel's "Iron Beam" (Iron Beam) laser air defense system news, recently foreign media and mentioned that the United States for Israel, Ukraine and U.S. border security to provide a package worth 106 billion U.S. dollars of emergency supplemental funding budget, there will be 1.2 billion U.S. dollars to invest in the "Iron Beam" laser weapon system. "Iron Beam" laser system.
In addition, Doug Bush, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, said the U.S. hopes that testing of the system will eventually benefit the U.S. Army as well.
The "Iron Beam" System and Israeli Laser Weapons Development
Israel is currently in the advanced stages of developing the Iron Beam laser missile interceptor system, which is manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and will be integrated into Israel's overall multilayered missile defense system, which consists of Iron Dome, David, Iron Dome, Iron Dome, and Iron Dome. Dome, David's Sling, Arrow 2 and Arrow 3.
Israel began developing the Iron Beam laser defense system around 2010 and began demonstrating it in 2014, and in April 2022, Israel's Ministry of Defense announced that it had successfully tested the system. The Iron Beam system is scheduled to be deployed in 2025, according to Israeli plans. "Iron Beam is designed to defend against short-range threats, and while it will not eliminate the military's need for Iron Dome, it will help to dramatically reduce the range of interceptions, resulting in significant cost savings.
At present, the U.S. Congress has not yet approved the adoption of the $ 106 billion aid program (including $ 14 billion to Israel). However, foreign media revealed that the U.S. military may see the "iron beam" laser system as an alternative laser weapon to meet their own needs.
The "Iron Beam" system uses a powerful laser beam as a means of killing and destroying artillery shells, rockets and short-range missiles that are too small to be effectively intercepted by the "Iron Dome". In addition, the system can destroy small drones. Advantages over the Iron Dome system include a much lower cost per launch, a theoretically unlimited stockpile of munitions, and lower operating costs.
Speaking of the Iron Dome system, let's take a look at Israel's laser weapons development in general:
In the early 1990s, Israel, in cooperation with the United States, developed the Nautilus deuterium fluoride chemical laser weapon test system.
In 2006, with the help of the United States, it also developed the "skyguard" (skyguard) oxygen iodine chemical laser weapon test system.
In 2014, the kilowatt-class Iron Beam system was demonstrated at the Singapore Airshow.
In 2020, the Drone Dome laser anti-drone system was demonstrated.
In June 2021, the Airborne High Energy Laser Weapon Demonstration Prototype System (HPL-WS) was flown at sea.
In May 2022, it was proposed to improve the Israeli air defense system, such as Iron Dome, with the help of high-energy laser weapon systems.
Recent U.S. Investments in Laser Weapons
In addition to external collaborations like the one with Israel, the U.S. Army is also working on its own high-energy laser weapons capabilities as part of its efforts to improve air defenses, such as against rockets, artillery, and mortars, as well as cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
According to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Department of Defense spends about $1 billion a year to develop directed-energy weapons, including high-energy laser devices that can be used to blow drones out of the sky.
Recently, Lockheed Martin has managed to get a contract for a laser weapon through the IFPC system for the U.S. Army, which is to provide two 300kW-class laser weapon systems.
Last December, the U.S. Lockheed Martin and Israel Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced that the two sides will be in Israel, "Iron Beam" laser defense system on the basis of cooperation in the development of a new laser system. The system power up to 300kW, and is expected to destroy multiple targets at the same time.
The U.S. Army plans to deploy four prototypes of the 300kW-class Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL) by 2024 and integrate them into Army military vehicles.The IFPC-HEL system complements other layered defense components and provides 360° coverage, thus protecting soldiers from unmanned aerial systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and other weapons. thereby protecting Soldiers from threats such as unmanned aircraft systems, rockets, artillery, mortars, rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. The mobile platform contains interceptors, launchers, and power supply systems to support cruise missile defense, anti-drone, and warhead missions.
In August 2023, Lockheed Martin also announced that it will develop a 500KW high-energy laser weapon under a contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense, an increase of 200kW over the 300KW laser weapon the company previously delivered to the U.S. Army.
The future direction of high-energy laser weapons?
Laser weapons anti-drone combat use has experienced the development process from scratch, from secondary to primary, from weak to strong, and now has been deployed on different platforms such as trucks, ships and airplanes, and has become a practical weapon system after multi-country battle verification. The United States was the first to use laser weapons for anti-drone operations.
Specifically, the laser weapon system is generally composed of power system, laser equipment, thermal management system, beam control system, speed of light indicator and other parts, the core of which is the laser equipment. The development of laser weapons needs to solve technical problems such as beam synthesis technology, overall design technology (including laser system physical modeling and simulation analysis, integrated technology design and engineering design, etc.), and integration verification technology (including test method design, comprehensive performance testing and evaluation, etc.).
Nowadays, tactical air defense laser weapons have been able to intercept a large number of invasive precision-guided weapons. Laser weapons integrated into the existing artillery system, can form a "bullet, gun, laser" three combined comprehensive air defense system, to make up for the shortcomings of the artillery system.
It can be predicted that the frequency of laser weapons on the battlefield in the future will rise dramatically. With the laser weapons to miniaturization, multi-platform and constantly overcome technical problems in the direction of the development of laser weapons logistics support will be a single demand, the protection of small development.