India’s Laser Weapon Dream: DURGA-2 and the Promise of Missile Defense

Imagine a weapon that can neutralize drone attacks, deflect ballistic missiles, and even destroy fighter jets at the speed of light. This is the promise of India’s ambitious “DURGA-2” project, a directed-energy weapon (DEW) being developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Current anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems have limitations. “DURGA-2” aims to overcome these limitations by offering a 100% kill probability, potentially revolutionizing the military landscape. This has sparked excitement in Indian strategic circles, envisioning the system effectively countering threats from China and Pakistan.

The project holds immense significance considering the vulnerability of Indian cities to ballistic missile attacks. While the S-400 system offers some protection, it doesn’t guarantee complete defense. “DURGA-2” aspires to fill this gap by destroying missiles and even crippling enemy radar and electronic warfare systems, rendering their missile infrastructure ineffective.

The Laser Science and Technology Centre (LSTC) in New Delhi is spearheading the project, developing various laser generation techniques for both defensive and offensive purposes. The project, funded with $100 million, aims to integrate the laser system with land, sea, and air platforms.

Initial successes include a 25KW laser capable of targeting missiles at a distance of 5 km, with efforts underway to extend this range significantly. However, providing adequate power for high-power lasers remains a significant challenge.

While “DURGA-2” holds immense potential, its development requires overcoming technical hurdles and navigating international regulations surrounding DEWs. Nevertheless, the project represents a significant step forward in India’s defense capabilities, potentially ushering in a new era of laser-based warfare.

 

[Anant]

A 25 kW DEW is definitely a start, but there is no chance anyone is shooting down missiles of fighters with it, especially if it has that short a range.

Still, it is a good start, and DEWs will definitely play a greater role in the future as nations start to miniaturise the power generation concerns. Good going, but a long way to go.

 

[alok kumar]

this article is fooling readers by purporting some weird looking truck as the laser weapon system. If u noticed keenly ,the surroundings are European and the truck is not indian as well. The Indian flag has been clearly cut and pasted on the side of the truck. India is a infant when it comes to defense lasers. I have been reading articles for the past 25 years and nothing has happened.

 

[Ramsses CDXX]

Courtesy:

DURGA 2: All About India's Very Own Laser Weapon Being Developed By DRDO

Laser weapons could be the future of warfare, and hence there is a worldwide interest in acquiring such system. DRDO is reported to have achieved a fairly advanced stage of testing a real prototype.

news.abplive.com

Kya halwa-raita hai 🍚🫗

 

[NSR]

With two arch enemies holding hundreds of nuclear missile, this is a great news.
India must pursue it to perfection and locate them in all strategic places to safeguard Indian assets and citizens.
Way to go !!!

 

[alok kumar]

The Indian flag has been clearly cut and pasted on the side of the truck.

It is an AI generated image, so no intentional cut and paste job done here, neither the picture is meant to be treated as some representation of the article. The disclaimer is mentioned in the picture.

 

[ABHIJIT APSINGIKAR]

Its high time DRDO ceases frivolous projects such as these and shift their focus on practical achievable projects. Even the US Navy has opted to just install dazzlers on its naval ships rather than installing a laser base Directional Energy Weapon. It found that the size and power requirements of that behemoth were far too impractical to be installed on ships.

 

[yogesh]

Directed energy weapons are the present not just the future. There are different types of directed energy weapons and some of which have already found their way into significantly important domains. The power required for such weapons can depend upon the class of directed energy weapons deployed and it's not necessary that you only need lots of power to cause "effects". If we research well,then we can see that effects can be triggered using adequately powered DEW and also by analyzing the class of DEWs for deployment.

It is certainly an important area of research and development and has applications in various domains of warfare.

 

[Ajath]

this article is fooling readers by purporting some weird looking truck as the laser weapon system. If u noticed keenly ,the surroundings are European and the truck is not indian as well. The Indian flag has been clearly cut and pasted on the side of the truck. India is a infant when it comes to defense lasers. I have been reading articles for the past 25 years and nothing has happened.

Do you always indulge in criticism? Name one country which has perfected this system and has seen success. Don't post comments for the heck of it.
Earlier you had posted negative comments about MBT s. Do you think Military planners across the world do not have brains when they plan for a new MBT ?
And Mr..Alok has rightly pointed out its an AI generated image. And the author's comments is quite OK.
Have you heard about STAR WARS Program ? It's more than 40 years old. Read about it. It's not easy as you think to perfect such weapons. It's bound to take time.

 

[Amit Ray]

Development of durga and kali is absolutely necessary. Perhaps it's the most effective defense systems.

 

[Varaaah]

So in fact DRDO has not achieved much so far in this field. That is really sad, considering they have been busy with this project for decades.

 

[Alok Gupta]

It needs a range of minimum 25km or, better still, 75km to be able to use it across the border. Otherwise India will need to place one of these ever 10km for effective last minute defense. It can definitely not be used for aircraft, because they would have fired their weapons from a much longer distance to take it out. With sucha shout range, it will be a sitting duck.

 

[desigandu]

25KW will not cut it...For planes and missiles at least 300KW if not 500KW or 1MW laser is needed at distance upto 100KMs...Also note lasers are useless in bad weather and have severe limitations as distance (due to scattering effect) increases...dreams of lasers in space that can kill ballistic and hypersonic missiles are potentially decades away...We should develop dazzlers and 300KW systems for high frequency and low range kill systems (drone swarms, slow flying objects, maybe like CIWS) on our ships and terrestrial platforms...Even the US is just testing 300KW systems and prototyping 500KW lasers...This is not star wars and thus our requirements need to be realistic.