Following the U.K.’s delivery of its DragonFire combat laser to Ukraine last year, an announcement in December by the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces Commander, Vadym Sukharevsky, claimed the country had its own combat-ready laser.
“We can state that today Ukraine is, if I’m not mistaken, the fifth country that has a laser,” the Commander said while speaking at the conference, “European Defense Industry Prospects for Cooperation with the Ukrainian Defense Industry.”
Thus far, little is known about the weapon. However, it is reputedly effective against low-flying targets like drones, mortars, certain missiles, and possibly even some light aircraft. Some experts have speculated the weapon may be domestically made, although the exact manufacturer of the combat laser remains unconfirmed.
Ukraine Combat Laser Part of Ongoing Shift Toward Directed Energy Weapons
In 2020, photos of Russia’s in-development tactical laser were leaked, raising concerns that the country’s directed energy program was advancing quicker than many anticipated. While Russia has yet to deploy that weapon in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine, countries like Israel and Australia have joined the U.S., Israel, and South Korea in fielding a deployable combat laser.
In the U.S., efforts by the Department of Defense to incorporate directed energy weapons into the country’s arsenal have steadily increased in recent years. In 2022, the U.S. Navy showed off its latest combat laser in a series of successful tests. Later that same year, the U.S. Army announced plans to deploy the Stryker combat laser on military vehicles.
In 2023, defense contractor Raytheon Technologies delivered a combat-ready laser to the U.S. Air Force. In 2024, the U.S. Army began testing its Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense, or DE M-SHORAD laser weapon, in the Middle East in preparation for a wider deployment.
In addition to these combat-ready laser weapons, the DoD is developing even more powerful lasers that could potentially down ICBMs or even advanced combat aircraft.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which already boasts the development of the world’s most powerful combat laser, clocking in at 300kW of stopping power, has revealed efforts to increase that weapon’s power output to an industry-leading 500 kW of pure energy. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also revealed efforts to design a military-grade quantum laser that could set an entirely new standard of power and performance.
Trident Laser System Joins Push for Advanced Weapons Technologies
The deployment of a combat-ready laser echoes a trend by the country to expand its arsenal of high-tech weapons to hopefully thwart Russia on the battlefield. For example, Sukharevsky indicated that Ukraine is also developing a class of “mother drones” that carry up to two “first-person view drones” underneath them.
Ukraine’s new combat laser is reportedly named Tryzub (Trident). In his December comments, Sukharevsky also noted that the missile can counter aircraft “as high as 2 km.”
Unconfirmed reports indicate the weapon has already been used against low-flying drones like the Iranian-made Shahed drones. In February, the Commander told Radio Free Europe, “I repeat – laser technologies are already striking objects at a certain height.” Thus far, little else is known beyond the initial announcement.
The Debrief reached out to Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces to confirm the combat laser’s deployment and development, but had not received a response as of the time of publication.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.