A video from the American Raytheon published on the occasion of the 2019 Paris Air Show shows the performance of an anti-drone system using a 10Kw laser weapon against, among other things, commercial quadcopter drones of Chinese origin. The video, which is intended to be decisive, since the drones are actually shot down by the laser system, raises more questions than it provides certainty about the effectiveness of this technology.
The video is accessible here (surprisingly it cannot be imported): https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yumr_OkdHeo?feature=oembed
We note, in addition to the excellent weather conditions of the test, taking place in a semi-desert environment, that it is necessary to follow and engage the drones for a period ranging from 5 to 8 seconds to cause sufficient damage to cause loss of suspension. However, commercial drones have a relatively low speed, and above all, are not structurally designed to resist a laser. The structure is generally made of plastic materials, very sensitive to the thermal effects of a laser, and having a particularly low melting point, between 125 and 300° depending on the polymers used. This is not the case for military missiles and munitions, droneized or not.
Therefore, knowing that the power of the test laser was 10 Kw, we can reasonably question the effectiveness of lasers with a power less than 50 Kw in an operational environment, knowing that the targets will then be more fast and more maneuverable, therefore limiting the possible exposure duration, and significantly more resistant to the thermal effects of the laser, especially since outside the Middle Eastern theaters, the weather conditions will probably be much less favorable, and therefore the dispersion energy of the ray more important.
What then can we say about the probable effectiveness of the Stryker MEHEL 2, American armored vehicles carrying a 5 Kw laser, and deployed in particular in Europe, to, according to the US Army, be able to deal with targets such as drones...