MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Anti-drone laser systems are proving highly effective and have the potential to change approaches across Russia's entire defense industry, a spokesman for the Svarog Research and Production Center told TASS.

"Such products have the potential to change the approach across the entire military industry. A vivid example is the Knyaz Vandal fiber-optic drones, which have demonstrated high effectiveness compared to radio-controlled drones. Following these demonstrated results, coupled with the calculated economic impact, this area has rapidly expanded. The same situation exists in the field of countering unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using laser weapons. There are already clear examples of their effectiveness, the economic feasibility has been calculated, and I believe informed decisions will be made regarding the development of these technologies, as well as other technologies in the field of countering drones," the company stated.

It noted rationality of using laser weapons against UAVs. "Over the past few years, approaches to the economics of war have changed. For example, while at the beginning of the special military operation, FPV drones were not taken seriously as weapons, today this product, which costs tens of thousands of rubles, is capable of destroying tanks worth several million dollars. We have seen in practice that inexpensive weapons can effectively destroy expensive equipment," the company said.

The Svarog Research and Production Center also noted the low cost of using laser systems to engage drones. "Surface-to-air missile systems, such as the Pantsir, are expensive weapons themselves. Furthermore, there’s a bottleneck in the production of anti-aircraft missiles for them. However, establishing the production of laser weapons for UAV destruction is much more cost-effective. In fact, the shots are fired directly from the laser system itself. The leadership of the relevant agencies is seeing the practical results of laser systems, and I believe they will draw conclusions about the fastest possible embedding of this technology in the defense of industrial and military facilities," the company said.

Earlier, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov stated that the country is already using a whole range of laser systems to combat drones.