General Lebedenko: Ukraine to receive domestic laser air defence systems within quarter

Ukraine could field its own laser weapon systems for targeting aerial threats within the next two to three months, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrii Lebedenko announced during a briefing.

These laser systems are being developed by joint teams comprising Ukrainian Armed Forces units and private defence enterprises. Current iterations are already capable of destroying FPV drones, while engineers are actively refining capabilities to intercept Shahed-type loitering munitions. Lebedenko noted that once testing concludes, these systems will engage aerial targets more effectively than heavy machine guns when integrated into mobile fire groups.

Lebedenko did not specify whether his comments referred to any previously disclosed projects. In February this year, The Atlantic reported on field trials of the compact Sunray system, which is small enough to fit in a vehicle boot and engineered to dazzle optical sensors and disable small UAVs.

In May, the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces demonstrated trials of the larger Tryzub system, which successfully neutralised FPV drones at ranges up to 900 meters and reconnaissance UAVs at up to 1.5 kilometres. Engineers are also testing the integration of laser systems onto Protector unmanned ground vehicles to establish highly mobile air defence nodes.

The primary advantages of laser weaponry include a virtually limitless ammunition capacity and a negligible cost per shot. However, operational deployment remains constrained by physical limitations: beam effectiveness degrades significantly in fog, rain, snow, or heavy smoke. Furthermore, destroying moving targets requires sustained beam dwell time on a precise point, while neutralising larger drones demands high-capacity power sources.