00:00This newly released footage shows the Dragonfire laser-directed energy weapon system in action,
00:06and it could be in the hands of military personnel in five years' time.
00:09It destroys targets with an intense beam of light and has pinpoint accuracy.
00:14It's able to hit something the size of a £1 coin from a kilometre away.
00:18So we've been talking about the cost of firing a laser weapon to be £10 a shot.
00:25And really all we're talking about is the cost of the energy that you need to fire the laser weapon,
00:32obviously once you've got the system in place in the first place.
00:36And that compares very favourably with missiles, which might be thousands or tens of thousands or even more per single shot.
00:45Scientists say Dragonfire proved itself in testing in Scotland and has the potential to transform the UK's defence capability.
00:52It could be used on land or sea and would remove the reliance on high-cost ammunition.
00:58Drones are a really good example of the kinds of targets that a laser weapon would be very affected against.
01:04And certainly in our demonstrations, drones are one of the targets that we've successfully engaged on a number of occasions at really useful ranges.
01:13Britain isn't alone in developing this technology.
01:15Militaries around the world see the advantage, like Israel, which has Iron Beam, designed to destroy short-range objects too close for the Iron Dome system.
01:25We don't like to compare Dragonfire too specifically with what's being done in other countries,
01:31because they have their own research programmes, which we're not privy to.
01:35But what I would note is that the Dragonfire technology that we've designed is UK bespoke technology,
01:44which is owned by us and can be used by us in support of generating laser weapons for our own platforms in future.
01:54Dragonfire is now back from Scotland and will potentially be involved in further trials.
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