World First, South Korea Will Deploy 'StarWars' Laser Weapons To Shoot North Korean Drones

JAKARTA - South Korea will be the first country in the world to deploy laser weapons in the military to shoot a North Korean drone crash this year, the country's arms procurement agency said on Thursday.

South Korea calls its laser program a "StarWars project".

South Korea's military-developed drone laser weapon with an effective and inexpensive Hanwha Aerospace, priced at 2,000 won (1.45 US dollars) per shot, but not noisy and invisible, Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said in a statement.

"Our country is the first country in the world to deploy and operate laser weapons, and our military response capability to North Korean drone provocations will be further strengthened," DAPA said, calling the weapon a game changer on the battlefield in the future.

A spokesman for DAPA explained that at a press conference, a laser weapon shot down a flying drone by burning engines or other electrical equipment inside a drone with beams of light for 10 to 20 seconds.

Earlier, five North Korean unmanned aircraft crossed into South Korea in December, prompting Seoul to deploy fighter jets and fighter helicopters to try to shoot down the unmanned plane, in the first infiltration since 2017.

It is known that the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a ceasefire, not a peace agreement, and a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas.

North Korea and South Korea have violated the ceasefire governing their joint border by sending drones into their respective airspace, the United States said.