AUSA 2025: Israeli RAFAEL debuts its Iron Beam Laser to defeat drones and rockets up to 10 km
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RAFAEL presented its Iron Beam high-energy laser system at AUSA 2025, showcasing a 100 kW-class weapon capable of neutralizing rockets, drones, and artillery within a 10 km radius. The system’s near-zero shot cost and scalable design could reshape short-range air defense strategy for U.S. and allied forces.
Washington, D.C, Oct 15 : At AUSA 2025, Rafael showcased its Iron Beam, a high-energy laser effector built to punch a clean hole in the hardest problem facing modern air defenses: massed, low-cost aerial threats at short range. The system is advertised as a 100 kW class laser with an engagement envelope out to 10 km, designed to burn through rockets, mortars, artillery rounds, drones, and even cruise missiles while keeping collateral damage to a minimum. In a year when munition stockpiles are tight and budgets are stretched, the appeal is straightforward: a magazine measured in electrons, not interceptors, changes the math for any force that must defend airfields, depots, and cities day after day.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
RAFAEL Iron Beam/M: 50–100 kW lasers defeat drones, rockets, and mortars within seconds out to 10 km, delivering low-cost defense for fixed and mobile forces (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).
Iron Beam uses multifunction beam directors that apply coherent beam combination and built-in adaptive optics, keeping energy focused on a specific aimpoint despite platform motion and atmospheric jitter. That combination is what allows the laser to dwell on a target for seconds until structural failure, fuse disruption, or fuel ignition occurs. Neutralization is intended to be fast and precise, with almost zero cost per intercept compared with missile shots that can run into six figures. The operator console is remote, connected by data link, so crews can be displaced from the firing unit for survivability. The hardware is packaged on ISO-compatible pallets to ease transport and deployment.
RAFAEL lists UAVs of many sizes, artillery and mortar rounds, rockets, and cruise missiles, and emphasizes rapid retargeting for swarm engagements. The company positions the laser as either a standalone point-defense unit or a node in a layered architecture, where it peels off cheap or abundant threats so kinetic interceptors can be reserved for what must not leak through. By engaging at the speed of light and using a focused beam rather than fragmentation, the system aims to limit stray effects over urban terrain and critical infrastructure.
The Iron Beam is a tool for endurance and surge. A 10 km bubble does not replace medium-range interceptors, but it offers commanders a persistent end-game layer to blunt rocket fire, loitering munitions, and quad-copter raids against fuel farms, command posts, and logistic nodes. The near-zero shot cost and virtually unlimited magazine mean defenders can ride out long harassment campaigns without pausing to reload. Lasers also bring fine control, allowing engagement windows that are seconds long and measured precisely in aimpoint placement, which is valuable when threats weave through civilian airspace. In practice, Iron Beam would be paired with wide-area sensors and cueing radars and backed by guns and missiles, creating a layered trap that forces adversaries to spend more to achieve less. As with all directed-energy systems, commanders will still plan around line-of-sight, atmospheric attenuation, and weather, but the calculus shifts because the expended resource is power, not inventory.
Nations facing steady drone and rocket pressure need cost-effective attrition options that scale. Programs like Iron Beam give defense ministries a way to harden critical sites without burning through missile stockpiles, while signaling to adversaries that cheap saturation tactics no longer guarantee effect. Countries integrating with U.S. and NATO-style layered air defenses will view a 100 kW class laser as a natural complement to existing launchers and command networks, imposing both a tactical tax on attackers and a strategic one on their suppliers. For mid-tier partners who cannot afford endless interceptor buys, a palletized, transportable laser that can plug into local sensors and prosecute swarms offers something rare in air defense: predictable operating costs and deterrence by resilience.
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RAFAEL presented its Iron Beam high-energy laser system at AUSA 2025, showcasing a 100 kW-class weapon capable of neutralizing rockets, drones, and artillery within a 10 km radius. The system’s near-zero shot cost and scalable design could reshape short-range air defense strategy for U.S. and allied forces.
Washington, D.C, Oct 15 : At AUSA 2025, Rafael showcased its Iron Beam, a high-energy laser effector built to punch a clean hole in the hardest problem facing modern air defenses: massed, low-cost aerial threats at short range. The system is advertised as a 100 kW class laser with an engagement envelope out to 10 km, designed to burn through rockets, mortars, artillery rounds, drones, and even cruise missiles while keeping collateral damage to a minimum. In a year when munition stockpiles are tight and budgets are stretched, the appeal is straightforward: a magazine measured in electrons, not interceptors, changes the math for any force that must defend airfields, depots, and cities day after day.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
RAFAEL Iron Beam/M: 50–100 kW lasers defeat drones, rockets, and mortars within seconds out to 10 km, delivering low-cost defense for fixed and mobile forces (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).
Iron Beam uses multifunction beam directors that apply coherent beam combination and built-in adaptive optics, keeping energy focused on a specific aimpoint despite platform motion and atmospheric jitter. That combination is what allows the laser to dwell on a target for seconds until structural failure, fuse disruption, or fuel ignition occurs. Neutralization is intended to be fast and precise, with almost zero cost per intercept compared with missile shots that can run into six figures. The operator console is remote, connected by data link, so crews can be displaced from the firing unit for survivability. The hardware is packaged on ISO-compatible pallets to ease transport and deployment.
RAFAEL lists UAVs of many sizes, artillery and mortar rounds, rockets, and cruise missiles, and emphasizes rapid retargeting for swarm engagements. The company positions the laser as either a standalone point-defense unit or a node in a layered architecture, where it peels off cheap or abundant threats so kinetic interceptors can be reserved for what must not leak through. By engaging at the speed of light and using a focused beam rather than fragmentation, the system aims to limit stray effects over urban terrain and critical infrastructure.
The Iron Beam is a tool for endurance and surge. A 10 km bubble does not replace medium-range interceptors, but it offers commanders a persistent end-game layer to blunt rocket fire, loitering munitions, and quad-copter raids against fuel farms, command posts, and logistic nodes. The near-zero shot cost and virtually unlimited magazine mean defenders can ride out long harassment campaigns without pausing to reload. Lasers also bring fine control, allowing engagement windows that are seconds long and measured precisely in aimpoint placement, which is valuable when threats weave through civilian airspace. In practice, Iron Beam would be paired with wide-area sensors and cueing radars and backed by guns and missiles, creating a layered trap that forces adversaries to spend more to achieve less. As with all directed-energy systems, commanders will still plan around line-of-sight, atmospheric attenuation, and weather, but the calculus shifts because the expended resource is power, not inventory.
Nations facing steady drone and rocket pressure need cost-effective attrition options that scale. Programs like Iron Beam give defense ministries a way to harden critical sites without burning through missile stockpiles, while signaling to adversaries that cheap saturation tactics no longer guarantee effect. Countries integrating with U.S. and NATO-style layered air defenses will view a 100 kW class laser as a natural complement to existing launchers and command networks, imposing both a tactical tax on attackers and a strategic one on their suppliers. For mid-tier partners who cannot afford endless interceptor buys, a palletized, transportable laser that can plug into local sensors and prosecute swarms offers something rare in air defense: predictable operating costs and deterrence by resilience.
