Star Wars Lasers Are Coming To South Korea In World-First Defense

According to South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development, the implementation of Star Wars lasers will make South Korea the first nation to use laser-powered anti-aircraft weapons. In a press release, they stated that the weapon “is a new concept future weapon system that neutralizes targets by directly irradiating them with a light source laser generated from an optical fiber, and can precisely strike small unmanned aerial vehicles and multicopters at close range.”

Designed not to require separate ammunition and to operate on electricity only, the weapon’s use is pretty inexpensive in the military weapon scheme of things. Each launch only costs a measly 2,000 won (less than two dollars), and accuracy is nearly always promised. 

So far, it has been reported that the development of the “Star Wars lasers project” has gone quite smoothly. The weapon has shown much promise, with a near 100 percent success rate in previous live-fire tests, granting it a combat-suitable assessment. Senior Civilian Lee Dong-Seok, head of DAPA, stated that Star Wars lasers would “strengthen our military’s response capabilities to North Korea’s drone provocations in the future.”

This weapon development most likely comes in response to the rising tensions between South Korea and North Korea. The news of the rollout of the Star Wars lasers closely follows that of North Korea’s claims that they are testing a ballistic missile with a “superlarge warhead. Also, only days before South Korea’s statement was released, North Korea sent their self-described “elite military” to Russia. Four Indo-Pacific countries that attended the NATO summit on July 11 strongly condemned this forming relationship and said it posed a threat to national security. 

The implementation of the Star Wars lasers is not the end for South Korea’s DAPA. Plans for the future entail creating a secondary prototype with an improved range and a significant increase in the output of the laser generator. With these improvements put in place, DAPA insists this new weapon system “could play a game-changing role in the future battlefield, capable of responding to aircraft and ballistic missiles.”

Though it won’t be officially signed until June 25, 2024, DAPA hopes that through the mass production contract with Hanwha Aerospace Co., Ltd., the Star Wars lasers will be delivered to the military and fully operational by the end of the year. Though South Korea did start considering sharing advanced military technology with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia in April of this year, It is currently unclear if the Star Wars lasers will be heading overseas.

Source: DAPA