Iron Beam laser weapon system is designed to counter a truly wide range of aerial targets from drones and missiles to mortar shells and artillery projectiles.
Israel's Ministry of Defense announced on Monday, December 29, that together with local defense company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, they delivered the first Iron Beam laser system it was officially entered into service, and thus the ministry and supplier nearly just made it in fulfilling their earlier promise to equip the military with the Iron Beam laser complex by the end of this year.
Read more: French SAMP/T Sale to Bangladesh Could Undermine Ukraine's Air Defense
As noted by Breaking Defense, the israeli defense ministry reported conducting a significant series of tests of the laser complex, during which Iron Beam demonstrated its ability to shoot down such targets as various types of missiles, mortar shells, artillery projectiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
In the country's air force arsenal, Iron Beam will occupy its niche in air defense among such world-renowned systems as Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow. Iron Beam's range is approximately 10 km.
"For the first time in the world, a powerful laser interception system has reached full operational maturity, successfully completing numerous interceptions during an extended series of tests that simulated various operational scenarios," commented Israel Katz, head of the country's defense ministry, on this event.
Against the backdrop of global interest in laser weapon systems and the emergence of an increasing number of developments, it's worth noting that Israel needed considerable time for the Iron Beam system to officially reach the military.
First and foremost, the first complex was delivered just over a year after the signing of the official contract, which was concluded more than a year ago, in October 2024.
And from the system's first public demonstration, which took place in February 2014, to the delivery of the first production systems, almost 12 years passed. And this doesn't even account for the fact that overall, Israel has been working on laser weapon development for literally decades since the 1990s.
And these are quite telling indicators of how lengthy the development of laser weapons designed to shoot down various aerial targets can be.
Read more: Why Ukraine Is Developing Shorter-Barrel Howitzers Despite Their Reduced Range, Such as the New Domestic Marta
