JAKARTA - Russia claims to use a new weapon in the form of lasers to knock out drones in Ukraine, prompting mockery from President Zelensky who satirizes Moscow's mission failure.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, underwater nuclear drones, supersonic weapons and laser weapons.
Little is known about the specifications of the new laser. President Putin mentioned one called Peresvet, named after a medieval Orthodox warrior monk, Alexander Peresvet, who died in mortal combat.
At a press conference in Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov in charge of military development said Peresvet is already in widespread use and can blind satellites up to 1,500 km above the Earth.
He said there were already systems more powerful than Peresvet that could burn drones and other equipment. Borisov cited a test on Tuesday that he said had burned the drone 5km away in five seconds.
"If Peresvet blinds, then the laser weapons of the new generation aim at physical destruction of targets, thermal destruction, they catch fire," he told Russian state television.
Asked whether such weapons were used in Ukraine, Borisov said: "Yes. The first prototypes are already in use there." He said the weapon was called "Zadira".
Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mockingly compared news of lasers to so-called magic weapons that Nazi Germany revealed in an attempt to prevent defeat in World War Two.
"The clearer it is that they stand no chance in war, the more propaganda about this extraordinary weapon will be so powerful to ensure a turning point," he said in a late-night video speech.
"So we see that in the third month of full-scale war, Russia is trying to find its 'magic weapon'. This all clearly indicates the complete failure of the mission," continued President Zelensky.
Almost nothing is publicly known about the Zadira, but in 2017 Russian media said the state nuclear company Rosatom helped develop it as part of a program to create new physical principles based on weapons.
The invasion of Ukraine has drawn the boundaries of post-Soviet Russia's conventional armed forces, although President Putin said "special military operations" were planned.
Borisov's remarks show that Russia has made significant progress with laser weapons, a trend that is quite attractive to other nuclear powers such as the United States and China.
Borisov said he had just returned from Sarov, which is Russia's center for nuclear weapons research. He said a new generation of laser weapons that use wide electromagnetic bands will eventually replace conventional weapons.
"This is not some kind of exotic idea; this is reality," concluded Borisov.
It is known, using lasers to blind satellites was once a fantasy from the world of science fiction. However, the United States, China and Russia have been working on variants of such weapons for years.
In addition to the benefits of burning drones, the blinding reconnaissance system has a strategic impact, as satellites are used to monitor intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons.
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