C2I 2024 Aerospace & Defence winner: DragonFire

In-Depth

The DragonFire programme has seen leading UK defence companies working with the MOD to develop a laser weapon for the armed forces.

MBDA

Category: Aerospace & Defence
Project: DragonFire
Partners: Dstl, MBDA, Leonardo, QinetiQ

This year’s winner in the Aerospace and Defence category is a genuinely groundbreaking project featuring some of the biggest names in UK defence. In gestation for close to a decade, DragonFire is a laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) system developed by MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). 

It’s claimed the system can hit a target the size of a £1 coin from a distance of 1km, with the cost of a single ‘shot’ coming in at around £10 – essentially the price of the energy used to fire the laser. This compares favourably to the cost of missiles, which can cost many thousands of pounds, and has the potential to bring substantial cost benefits to the UK military.  While the range of DragonFire is classified, it is a line-of-sight weapon and capable of engaging with any visible target.

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DragonFire
C2I
laser weapons