Playing laser tag: US dominance and Chinese ambition point to new arms race
- The US is the leader in directed-energy weapons but China has been accused of targeting American planes with military-grade laser beams
- Both sides are developing laser weapons and equipping warships to be able to launch them
Directed-energy weapons based on lasers can offer low cost per shot and almost limitless magazines to provide an efficient and effective means of defending against missile salvoes or swarms of unmanned systems.
Many countries, such as the US, China, Israel, France, Germany and Russia, have been researching the weapons for a long time, and major powers are ramping up their development to gain an upper hand.
Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based military commentator, said laser weapons were among those with the potential to change the face of warfare, and were of great importance.
“An arms race of laser weapons has long begun,” he said. “The US has a more solid technological foundation, but China is working to narrow the gap.
The US has been researching directed energy since the 1960s, according to a Congressional Research Service report in early August, and it is unquestionably the leader in developing laser weapons.
In May, the US Navy’s USS Portland ship tested a laser weapon capable of destroying aerial, sea and land-based threats in the Pacific, according to the US Pacific Fleet.