Unstoppable Laser Defense: Israel's Iron Beam vs Hypersonic Missiles

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Israel's Multi-Layered Air Defense System
3. The Threat of Hypersonic Missiles
4. The Need for Impenetrable Defense
5. The Birth of Laser Weapons
6. Spectral Beam Combination
7. The Iron Beam: Israel's Laser Weapon
8. The Advantages of Laser Weapons
9. The Intelligence of the Iron Beam
10. American Laser Weapons
11. IFPC Hell: The Heavy Threat Laser Weapon
12. DEM SHORAD: The Short-Range Air Defense Laser Weapon
13. Conclusion

Israel's Hypersonic Missile Destroyer: The Iron Beam

Israel is one of the most well-defended nations on the planet, with a multi-layered air defense umbrella that includes the Iron Dome, Arrow 2, Arrow 3, and David's Sling. These systems work together to protect Israel from a wide array of missiles, mortars, UAVs, and other manageable threats. However, there is a new unmanageable threat to fear: hypersonic missiles.

Hypersonic missiles maneuver and fly at five times the speed of sound, making them too agile to be intercepted by any of Israel's existing air defense systems. This is a problem for Israel, as their Arch-nemesis Iran reportedly has these hypersonic missiles. In dire need of an impenetrable wall, Israel is planning to spend $225 million on hypersonic missile defense alone.

With this funding, the country turns to the one weapon fast enough to make hypersonic weapons look slow: laser weapons. The United States is also facing similar hypersonic threats from Russia and China. As a result, the U.S. and Israel have teamed up to Create the most powerful laser weapons that neither the world nor sci-fi movies have ever seen. After years of work, the lasers are finally here. Both Israel and the U.S. now have laser weapons closer than ever to operational status.

Israel's Multi-Layered Air Defense System

Israel's multi-layered air defense system is one of the most advanced in the world. It includes the Iron Dome, Arrow 2, Arrow 3, and David's Sling. The Iron Dome is a short-range air defense system that intercepts rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of 4-70 km. Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 are long-range missile defense systems that intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth's atmosphere. David's Sling is a medium-range missile defense system that intercepts tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs.

The Threat of Hypersonic Missiles

Hypersonic missiles are a new Type of missile that maneuver and fly at five times the speed of sound. They are too agile to be intercepted by any of Israel's existing air defense systems. Iran reportedly has these hypersonic missiles, which poses a significant threat to Israel's security.

The Need for Impenetrable Defense

In response to the threat of hypersonic missiles, Israel is planning to spend $225 million on hypersonic missile defense alone. With this funding, the country is turning to laser weapons, which are fast enough to make hypersonic weapons look slow.

The Birth of Laser Weapons

The dream of operational laser weaponry has been around for decades. It all began with fiber optic telecommunications during the 90s. It was discovered that fiber optic lasers were very efficient at converting electrical power to optical power. They could be spot on focus to provide high intensity to really grill and drill through metal components of microelectronics. However, it was one thing to cut metal that's centimeters away and another to take out a mortar from two miles away. The fiber laser had to be scaled up massively if it could attain that level of weapons-class power, but there was no economical way to do that for years.

Spectral Beam Combination

Lockheed Martin's light bulb moment was to concentrate a stream of multiple kilowatt fiber lasers into a single high-quality beam. This is known as spectral beam combination, and it was the innovation that changed it all. All of a sudden, laser weapons could now have whatever power was needed by adding more laser Threads without adding much heavy equipment. This enabled the laser weapons to remain portable and therefore mobile. Laser weapons could now fit on the Navy's ships, Air Force's fighter jets, and the Army's trucks. Now able to co-exist on these vehicles with other systems, laser weapons could be integrated into legacy combat systems and weapons. They would all work in synergy to provide efficiency in operations, improved lethality, and more options to their operators.

The Iron Beam: Israel's Laser Weapon

The Iron Beam is a laser directed energy weapon that can autonomously acquire targets and track them from over four miles away. It can stabilize its line of sight and focus its high-energy laser to not only rip a hole through the target but also through space and time. The latest and arguably the best of Israel's wall of defenses, the Iron Beam introduces a new class of capabilities that its predecessors could only dream of, such as unlimited magazine.

The Advantages of Laser Weapons

Laser weapons have several advantages over traditional kinetic weapons. They don't rely on projectiles to deal damage but rather on the energy that comes with lasers. With a reliable power source on standby, the Iron Beam continues to fire, completely canceling out the need for military artillery to reload and introducing an unlimited magazine with highly effective shots. With a laser beam reaching its target almost Instantly, it eliminates the need to calculate an intercept course as interceptor missiles must do. This simplifies the threat counter process significantly.

The Intelligence of the Iron Beam

The Iron Beam is an intelligent weapon that does the bulk of its work without human intervention. It can autonomously detect and track threats and then take them out. This automatic nature of the weapon is why Israel plans to have Iron Beam units lined across their borders, preventing threats from crossing into the country and ensuring a sound sleep for the people of Israel, including the military who might have less direct defending to do. The Iron Beam is also designed to allow for militaries of Israel's allies to easily be trained and deploy the weapon in next to no time, translating into Instant integration of the weapon wherever it takes a tour, such as the U.S.

American Laser Weapons

The U.S. is spending roughly one billion dollars a year to develop directed energy weapons. The U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army are all working on such weapons, all partnering with Lockheed Martin and other contractors, and all making progress. The Army is a service that will wield the American equivalent of the Iron Beam. In addition to the new weapon, the service is also pushing for two other laser weapons, which are both revolutionary in their own right.

IFPC Hell: The Heavy Threat Laser Weapon

The Indirect Fire Precision Capabilities High Energy Laser (IFPC HELL) is a 300-kilowatt laser weapon designed to take out heavy threats such as cruise missiles. The result of a three-year project to develop technologies that would protect fixed and semi-fixed sites, the IFPC HELL is a mobile complete system packed with its beam control, beam director, power, and thermal management components. In 2022, Lockheed Martin supplied the Department of Defense with a 300-kilowatt laser that could be integrated into the IFPC HELL. It is the most powerful laser that Lockheed Martin has produced to date.

DEM SHORAD: The Short-Range Air Defense Laser Weapon

The Directed Energy Maneuverable Short-Range Air Defense Laser Weapon (DEM SHORAD) is a more everyday weapon that fires 60-kilowatt laser shots to take out UAVs and other similar-sized targets from five miles away. It could achieve this by blinding sensors, causing aerodynamic failure, disabling target engines, detonating fuel supply, or detonating an onboard explosive payload. An interesting feature of the DEM SHORAD is its level of intelligence. The weapon is, in the case of multiple targets, able to autonomously determine which should be destroyed first Based on how much of a threat each target poses. This is an urgently needed capability for the Army.

Conclusion

With the threat of hypersonic missiles now a reality, the U.S. and Israel have committed to developing laser weapons that would not only counter hypersonic missiles but would do it with jaw-dropping ease. According to experts, it would become even easier if You subscribe to this Channel and give this video a like.