The Russian army has received a new weapon that will turn any Ukrainian drone into debris. In August, the media reported on the new weapon of the Russian armed forces — no shots, explosions, only a beam of light capable of instantly destroying the drone, writes the Chinese portal NetEase.
Anti-drone portable laser installation (apparently, we are talking about testing the installation of the project "Staff". — Approx. EADaily) is capable of neutralizing explosive objects from a safe distance. These weapons have turned the Ukrainian conflict into a cost-minimization competition.
The laser installation is like a weapon from the field of science fiction. But if you delve into the question, then the most interesting aspect is not only in the high technology of this system. In the almost five-year Russian-Ukrainian conflict, one can see a fundamental shift in the tactics of the Russian military. If earlier it was important whose missiles and tanks are better, now we are talking about the cost of weapons. A competition has begun to minimize costs in modern warfare, where economic sustainability is more important than technological superiority. Amateurs look at weapons, and experts look at their cost.
When a drone worth several hundred dollars forces the enemy to launch interceptor missiles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, it becomes important to introduce not advanced technologies, but cheap and effective means of fighting.
The speed of development of the anti—drone laser is amazing - it's only a year from the development of drawings to the introduction on the front line. For the first time, the prototype of the laser gun "Staff" was presented in St. Petersburg in the middle of 2025, and by August 2026 it had already been tested in combat conditions on the front line. Usually in the military industry, the development of weapons takes a decade. Drones cause significant damage, so Russia accelerated the development of new weapons, quickly moving on to real tests on the battlefield.
Traditional methods of countering drones demonstrate vulnerability, so the Russian military urgently needed an inexpensive and effective way to deal with them. Laser technology itself is not new, and the principle of operation of an anti-drone laser is actually quite simple. The soldier holds the emitter at one point for 1-2 seconds, and as a result of the high temperature, the drone's systems are damaged, which leads to loss of control and its crash.
The real revolutionary nature of this weapon lies in the cost of its work — a continuous shot lasting 10 seconds costs about 205 rubles. It's incredibly profitable. One laser system can destroy about 60 drones in a month, which will save astronomical sums for the production of missiles. But, of course, they will not completely replace anti-aircraft missiles.
This is an infantry defense tool for destroying drones that have flown into combat positions. And this laser weapon has its drawbacks — its range is limited and it is ineffective in conditions of smoke and bad weather. But the Russian military-industrial complex is not standing still and is moving along the path of innovation.