'Incredible pride': 'Post' talks to IDF laser operator on cutting-edge defense of Israel
The breakthrough of the last week is only the beginning of the changes that operational military lasers will accomplish for the IDF.
After the announcement that the IDF's new laser defense system has shot down around 40 Hezbollah drones during the war, along with a Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announcement about its capabilities, IDF St.-Sgt.-Maj. A. told The Jerusalem Post in a recent exclusive interview that his time on the laser team protecting the country with this game-changing cutting-edge system has been 'incredible.'
A. is a reservist who was stationed in the North to work on how to operate the laser in real combat situations, and who had spent time in the IDF's air defense units mostly over a decade ago, but returned to assist when the current war broke out.
He said that he and everyone else had to learn how to best operate the laser in real time in the field, since it is essentially something that no one has ever done before.
'We received the system, we made adjustments while operating in the field, and we improved, with the [help of the] industry developers [Rafael], after we got a better understanding of what we needed to increase our shoot-down success,' said A.
There was a small group that had operated a laser before them, and there were the scientific experts from Rafael whom A. could not praise enough, but there was no real manual or guidebook, as he and his team were writing a new page in history.
Trying to develop lasers to shoot down aerial threats goes back to the 1980s in the US with the 'Star Wars' air defense program, but that program was a dismal failure.
Although Raytheon in the US, as well as Britain, Russia, China, Germany, and Japan are all at various stages of developing laser defense systems, Rafael said on Wednesday that it is the only company that has moved beyond test firings to actual use in the field.
In fact, defense sources said that some of these other countries, after announcing successful tests of their own lasers, have since visited Israel to try to work through problems they are still encountering in moving their lasers to the operational phase.
For example, although Britain performed a successful test with its DragonFire laser in January 2024, as of March of this year, the earliest that it was planning on deploying the laser operationally was 2027.
Also, in April of this year, Britain announced a successful test of a radio frequency directed energy weapon, but sources have told the Post that this kind of weapon is not only far from deployable, but has a number of weaker factors compared to laser defense.
In February of this year, the US Navy reported on a 2024 successful test of its 60 kilowatt High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system. There are no reports on when it will be deployed.
America is also working on the HELSI and HELCAP lasers with 300 kilowatts of firepower, but testing and deploying those systems appear to be even further off into the future.
In contrast, we now know that after successful tests in 2022-2023, the IDF has been deploying the laser for real combat use since fall 2024, and that more systems of the laser will be deployed already by the end of this year.
All of this means that A. and his team had almost no one to consult or compare notes with.
Incidentally, returning to 'Star Wars,' A. was not particularly a fan of the movie saga or science fiction laser gunfights either, before he started to operate Israel's laser defense or after. Basically, he is interested in Israel's defense and nothing else.
A. does have a family, and he did need the support of his wife and children to return to an intense and critical reserve duty of operating the laser.
'It was very emotional when you see the enemy rocket and the shoot-down moment gets closer, but then you don't let it get to its target. It's a source of pride that I cannot express,' added A.
Moreover, he said that while to date the system was used primarily or exclusively in the North versus Hezbollah, and that he is not making decisions about locations for the system, he is confident that the new laser system could be 'used in the South or anywhere we will be. It will be very effective against threatening targets.'
'If we need to learn the challenges of a new area, we will learn,' he stated – with it being well published that all laser defense systems face challenges in maintaining sufficient heat levels and focus to destroy targets over certain distances, and encountering certain inclement weather, such as clouds.
Further, he said that his team and the laser system had learned how to adjust to special maneuvering issues brought out by drones, which change their trajectory, unlike many rockets which follow a predictable arch-like pattern from the moment they are fired.
Continuing, A. stated that he could not give enough credit to both his laser defense team, which had to learn how to operate a radical new air defense system with no real history, as well as the Rafael engineers who developed the seemingly 'science fiction' system and adjusted it frequently in real time to meet real life challenges.
The number of soldiers involved in laser defense is still classified, but it can be estimated that at least dozens are already involved, and that with its growing success, this number will grow as well.
Rafael said that aspects of the laser could even be handled by tiny teams of a few soldiers.
'There is no feeling like saving lives' with a new historic laser defense system, concluded A.
One issue that A. did not comment on, but which Rafael revealed on Wednesday, is that its new lasers could eliminate the need for Israelis to run to bomb shelters when faced with most aerial threats.
Rafael explained that a major advantage of its lasers – Iron Beam, Iron Beam M, and Lite Beam – is that they can shoot down enemy rockets and drones much earlier in the threat process. This means that, most of the time, no warning sirens or bomb shelters would be necessary.
The reason would be that the light energy of the laser travels much faster than any interceptor in Israel's arsenal and would already potentially destroy the enemy aerial threat shortly after it launches, and invariably while still in enemy territory.
In fact, because the laser fires so much faster, the IDF will also likely have more chances to hit a target that it initially misses, since it will know it has missed earlier on in the process.
That means that Israelis would likely only hear a siren and need to run to bomb shelters in those rare cases where the laser system missed its target, then likely missed it multiple more times.
Rafael's presentation of the three different laser systems comes as it expects to display the lasers' capabilities in a defense technology conference in Paris, June 16-22.
The fact of Israel's participation in that conference will be significant, independent of the laser issue, though the laser will certainly be one of the lead items at the conference.
In June 2024, France initially banned Israeli participation in a similar defense conference, but eventually allowed some Israeli participation after multiple rounds of legal battles in the French courts.
In November 2024, France again banned Israel from participation in a naval conference and exercise.
However, Israel may for the moment be getting some better cooperation for the upcoming defense conference, after Jerusalem threatened in late 2024-early 2025 to cut France out of involvement in policing the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire if it did not reverse some of its policies upsetting Israel.
That said, Israel and France are still at loggerheads over a possible move by France to recognize Palestine as a state in the near future.
SOME OTHER details that Rafael just recently revealed are that the Lite Beam is the smallest and most local short-range system of the three laser systems, which can be placed on individual ground forces vehicles and fires a 10 kilowatt beam.
Iron Beam M fires a 250 millimeter, 50 kilowatt beam and can be mounted on large trucks for mobility, but cannot be placed as a minor additional system on individual vehicles.
Sources also indicated that the Iron Beam M is not only generally mobile, but can even be fired while moving.
The full-size Iron Beam fires a 450 millimeter, 100 kilowatt beam, is designed to remain stationary for periods of time, and cannot be fired while moving. However, it can, with advance planning, be moved around, just as Iron Dome batteries, over time, can be moved around.
Of course, the breakthrough of the last week is only the beginning of the changes that operational military lasers will accomplish for the IDF.
It will take a significant amount of time to adapt lasers for use by Israeli aircraft and especially to use them for both defense and offense.
This is because there are many challenges with using lasers relating to turbulence, dust, clouds, and smoke, which are a partial issue even when the end target is up in the sky, but are a larger issue when the starting point is up in the sky.
Also, if laser systems firing at enemy aerial threats must consider somewhat additional objects that could get hit by the laser after it continues through the object it hits, those considerations are much more complex for any aircraft firing on ground targets.
In fact, due to that and other considerations, the impression was that the IDF has not even made it a priority to achieve such laser aircraft capabilities for the foreseeable future.
Yet, sources have explained to the Post that the power and advantage of such a laser on aircraft would be massive: the ability to immediately reverse from defense to offense and vice versa. This is a power that aircraft usually lack when carrying missiles, which are generally tailored more for defensive or offensive purposes.
Once the IDF sees more laser defense systems in action at the end of 2025, there could be major budget shifts to start to try a long plan toward integrating lasers on fighter jets.
It is unknown what impact such laser developments will have on the question of whether to adapt existing fighter jets or to develop new fighter jets that are more optimal for lasers – with new fighter jet development often easily taking closer to a decade.
In addition, it was unclear how quickly Rafael can roll out a larger volume of lasers that would be sufficient to handle a large volume of rockets or drone swarms, such as what Israel saw during the current war.
A number of times Israel had to contend with 200-500 rockets or drones in a short period of time.
It took years for Iron Dome to reach a volume of batteries sufficient to fight off mass rocket and drone attacks, and this even after the initial defense batteries were produced and deployed.
Laser systems are also a big improvement over Iron Dome for reducing the cost of each shoot-down attempt.
Each Iron Dome interceptor costs around $40,000, whereas each laser shot should cost around $3.
However, developing each laser defense battery is still extremely expensive.
Another major advantage of laser systems over Iron Dome, according to Rafael, is reducing the logistical burden.
For example, Iron Dome interceptors are not merely a cost, they require significant distinct logistical operations for both storage and movement.
Laser defense systems, in contrast, do not require special physical storage space for their 'interceptor,' because laser shots are simply made up of light energy created when the system fires.
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