Israeli defense firm launches affordable anti-drone laser system

Israeli defense firm Esh-Tech has unveiled a new laser-based counter-drone weapon that it says can neutralize aerial threats in seconds while operating on a fraction of the power required by existing systems.

The company, based in Omer, Israel, announced Tuesday that its DroneLight system had completed several years of development and is now ready for deployment.

According to a company statement, it is “a pulsed-laser hard-kill counter-drone weapon designed to mount on standard military vehicles, operate on roughly 4 kilowatts (kW) of power, and neutralize aerial threats in one to two seconds.”

The launch comes as militaries around the world seek affordable defenses against the growing threat posed by drones, particularly First Person View (FPV) kamikaze drones that have been used extensively in both the war in Ukraine and the fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Although Israeli firms selling offensive weapons have been barred from participating in the Eurosatory arms exhibition in Paris later this month, companies focused on defensive systems are still being allowed to attend. Esh-Tech plans to showcase DroneLight at the event.

“By combining high effectivity with very low energy consumption and a cost structure that is dramatically lower than traditional laser systems, we enable armed forces to deploy effective hard-kill protection at scale, not just at select strategic sites,” Esh-Tech CEO Erez Riahi added.

“Our pulsed-laser architecture delivers interception within seconds, giving maneuvering forces the speed and operational flexibility they require on today’s battlefield.”

The company said several defense ministries worldwide are already evaluating the system to determine whether it is suitable for their armed forces.

FPV drones have proven difficult to defend against, particularly fiber-optic variants that remain physically connected to their operators through cables, rendering traditional electronic jamming systems ineffective.

Directed-energy weapons paired with advanced radar systems are increasingly viewed as one of the most promising solutions. However, the size, power requirements, and cost of many existing laser systems have limited their deployment.

While Israel has successfully used laser-based defenses against drones, most current systems require large, fixed infrastructure better suited to protecting strategic facilities or naval vessels than mobile forces operating on the battlefield.

Esh-Tech says DroneLight overcomes many of those limitations. The system is designed to operate using the electrical power already available on most modern military vehicles, allowing it to move with frontline units.

Its pulse laser delivers short, high-intensity bursts that can penetrate a drone's outer shell and disable internal components within 1 to 2 seconds.

According to the company, this rapid engagement cycle could make the system particularly effective against drone swarms, which many military analysts view as the next major evolution in unmanned warfare.

By contrast, many existing Israeli and American laser-based counter-drone systems rely on sustained laser beams that can require up to fifteen seconds to burn through a drone's outer structure before causing it to crash.

While effective against individual targets, such systems may face greater challenges when confronted with multiple drones approaching simultaneously from different directions.