Israel unveils its £413 million LASER interceptor ship, the ‘Iron Beam’, which will shoot Hamas and Hezbollah missiles and drones

Israel has announced the launch date of a £413 million laser weapon called the Iron Beam, which uses extremely concentrated flashes of light to shoot down missiles, rockets and drones at virtually no cost per shot.

The Iron Beam, made by Israeli defense companies Rafael and Elbit, will be able to fire beams of light with an energy output between 100 kW and 150 kW with pinpoint accuracy at targets several kilometers away.

It also has a smaller secondary beam, which it can use against drones and IEDs from ranges between 100 and 2,000 meters.

The IDF, which signed the multi-million deal with the two companies, will introduce the Iron Beam in Israel on October 28 next year.

And it couldn’t come sooner, as the Iron Dome has been working overtime for more than a year now to fend off missiles, rockets and drones from Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthis.

While Israel plans to integrate the Iron Beam into its existing defense infrastructure, which is already among the most advanced in the world, the Iron Beam is expected to drive up the cost of the country’s defense.

Israeli media reports that a single Iron Dome interception can cost around $50,000 (£39,000) per interception, making it an incredibly expensive system to operate.

But the Iron Beam only costs “a few dollars” to fire, making it much cheaper to use.

Other advantages include requiring less manpower to operate and move, making it easier to conceal.

However, there is an important interaction.

Although the Iron Dome is an all-weather system, capable of defending against rockets and missiles in rain, fog, dust storms and low cloud cover, the Iron Beam can only be used effectively in dry conditions, as water particles in the air disperse the air and absorb. concentrated light.

There must also be a direct line of sight to the targets, which means there are only so many places Iron Beam systems can be, and it has a much lower rate of fire.

While Iron Dome missiles can destroy targets in an instant, Iron Beams often must remain focused on their targets for several seconds before being destroyed.

Israel has faced enormous internal pressure in recent weeks to strengthen its defensive capabilities given the outbreak of war with Hezbollah on its northern border with Lebanon, which is backed by Iran.

Today alone, the IDF said Hezbollah fired a barrage of 115 rockets at it.

The Lebanese terror group said it had fired a salvo of advanced missiles at a naval base in Haifa, northern Israel.

It comes as successive Israeli airstrikes pounded Lebanon’s southern port city of Tire following an Israeli army evacuation warning for parts of the city, the Lebanese State News Agency reported.

Footage broadcast by local media and the Lebanese Civil Defense showed thick plumes of smoke rising against the Mediterranean skyline, with fires and widespread destruction of residential buildings. No casualties were immediately reported.

Following the Israeli evacuation warning, Lebanese civil defense teams patrolled the city with loudspeakers, urging residents to leave the area immediately.

An Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, said in a post on .’

The Aziz unit is one of Hezbollah’s three military units and is responsible for the western sector in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of launching operations from the Tire region into Israeli territory.

Egypt’s president on Monday called for coordinated international efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, a day after he proposed a two-day ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s comments came during a meeting in Cairo with Manfred Weber, the president of the European People’s Party, the largest political grouping in the European Parliament.

“The president stressed the need for all international parties, including the European Union, to join their efforts and push hard for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon,” el-Sissi’s office said in a statement. He also called on Israel to halt incursions into the occupied West Bank and allow unhindered and immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

El-Sissi told reporters on Sunday that Egypt, a key mediator between Hamas and Israel, has proposed a two-day ceasefire in which four hostages held in Gaza would be released.

He said the proposal, which aims to restart stalled negotiations, also includes the release of some Palestinian prisoners, the delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza and negotiations on making the ceasefire permanent .