Angesichts der stetig wachsenden Bedrohung durch feindliche Drohnen auf dem modernen Gefechtsfeld gab die israeliische Firma Esh-Tech Anfang Juni die Markteinführung von DroneLight bekannt. Das System wurde erstmals auf der Eurosatory gezeigt. Das DroneLight System soll bei taktischen Bodeneinsätzen Drohnen in ein bis zwei Sekunden neutralisieren. Ein leistungsstarker gepulster Laser neutralisiert die gegnerischen Drohnen innerhalb von Sekunden bei einem Energieverbrauch von nur vier Kilowatt – und ermöglicht so einen kosteneffizienten, fahrzeugbasierten Schutz für Bodentruppen.
Mit dem Hard-Kill-System auf Basis gepulster Lasertechnologie wird Bodentruppen ein schneller, kosteneffizienter und mobiler Schutz gegen Drohnen geboten, so der Hersteller. DroneLight wurde entwickelt, um ein breites Spektrum an Bedrohungen aus der Luft abzuwehren – einschließlich mit Sprengstoff beladener Drohnen beziehungsweise Loitering Munition, die sich in aktuellen Einsatzszenarien zu einer der dringendsten und am häufigsten auftretenden Herausforderungen entwickelt haben. Das System befindet sich derzeit in mehreren Märkten weltweit in der Erprobung durch Kunden, so Esh-Tech.
Effectiveness against drone swarm scenarios
DroneLight was specially designed for mobile and stationary ground units operating in complex environments with high threat potential. The system introduces a new architecture for pulsed lasers, using short, high-intensity pulses to physically ablate material from the target through a “drill” effect. This enables rapid neutralization compared with more than 15 seconds for conventional continuous-wave lasers.
With an energy consumption of around four kilowatts — significantly less than the 20 kilowatts or more required by other systems — DroneLight can be operated efficiently off the vehicle’s onboard power supply. This ensures full mobility and enables installation on military vehicles without the need for heavy, dedicated power infrastructure. The system supports a countermeasure rate of up to five hertz, equivalent to about 30 neutralizations per minute, making it effective against drone swarm scenarios.
Suitability for urban deployments
Its narrow field of view, the absence of side lobes (spread of energy in other directions), and the extremely short exposure time make it particularly suitable for urban deployments where precision and minimizing the risk of collateral damage are crucial. DroneLight was designed for defensive protection measures with a range of up to one kilometer, offers 360-degree coverage, and can be operated by a single person. The system features an automatic tracking system as well as synchronized pulse modules to ensure consistently high performance even under real-world conditions.
DroneLight is, according to the manufacturer, the result of three years of intensive research and development, field validation, and practical collaborations with leading defense organizations. It is the first commercially available system to leverage an atmospheric coherence window to achieve a highly efficient laser effect — and this on a platform that can be operated on light vehicles with a power demand of under four kilowatts.
DroneLight on FFGs ACSV
“DroneLight has been developed to significantly increase operational effectiveness and readiness in the field of drone defense,” said Erez Riahi, CEO of Esh-Tech. “By combining high effectiveness with very low energy consumption and a cost structure that is dramatically lower than traditional laser systems, we enable the armed forces to deploy effective hard-kill protection at scale — and not only at selected strategic locations. Our pulsed laser architecture enables interception within seconds and gives maneuvering forces the speed and operational flexibility they need on today’s battlefield.”
The combination of powerful pulsed laser technology, low energy demand, short response times, and high cost-effectiveness — with costs only around 25 percent of those of conventional continuous-wave laser systems — enables the armed forces, according to Esh-Tech, to equip a significantly larger number of units with effective laser-based defense capabilities. DroneLight has also been demonstrated on the jointly developed air-defense module on the ACSV (Armoured Combat Support Vehicle), an armored tracked vehicle of the Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft mbH (FFG).
