Russia claims to have a powerful laser weapon, the Peresvet, that can affect satellites in orbit around the Earth and destroy drones in the air from miles away.
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The Peresvet weapon was first announced in 2018 by Vladimir Putin. At the time, the Russian President had also talked about other powerful weapons such as an intercontinental ballistic missile, underwater drones, a hypersonic weapon and a new laser weapon. At a conference in Moscow yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said that a recent test showed that this powerful laser weapon can destroy a drone located 5 kilometers away in just five seconds.
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Borisov also said that Peresvet “can affect all satellite reconnaissance systems of a potential enemy in orbits of up to 1,500 km, disabling them during flight, due to the use of laser radiation.”
It is believed that the Peresvet laser weapon is being mass-produced in Russia and supplied to its troops. If this is true, then Russian forces may already be using it in military operations against Ukraine, although there has been no evidence of this so far. However, Borisov said that there were already more powerful systems than the Peresvet that could burn drones and other equipment, and that some of them were in use in Ukraine. The name of such a weapon is Zadira , but not many details are known.
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The deputy prime minister claimed that a successor to the existing system is under development and that: “This is primarily a laser weapon, an electromagnetic wideband weapon that will replace conventional weapons in the next decade – this is not some kind of exotic idea; it is reality.”
The name given to this laser weapon comes from the Russian Orthodox monk Alexander Peresvet, who is known for his duel in 1380 against Temir-murza at the start of the Battle of Kulikovo. Both men died in the duel, but Russian legend claims that Peresvet did not fall from his saddle, unlike his opponent.
Source: www.pcmag.com
