Ukraine Claims Enemy ‘Aircraft’ Shot Down by Laser Weapon

The defence industry has stepped into a new age with Ukrainian officials claiming that it has become the first nation to shoot down an enemy ‘aircraft’ with a laser weapon.

While many nations are exploring ways to adopt the destructive power of lasers, especially as a cheaper way of stopping low-cost drones, these systems largely remain at the testing stage. This has been due to the bulky nature of prototype laser weapons and their large power demands. In many cases this has meant a focus on deploying them on ships.

However, if the Ukrainians have been able to resolve these issues and reports of their claims to have shot down enemy ‘aircraft’ are accurate then this would be a major advance in war technology.

The weapon is known as ‘Tryzub’ which translates as trident in English—referencing the Ukrainian national symbol.

There had already been some notice of the weapons existence as, according to the Ukrainian Interfax news agency, Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces, had discussed some of its parameters at a defence industry conference in Kyiv late last year. When asked about it again by Radio Free Europe in February 2025, the colonel confirmed that the weapon was had now been deployed operationally.

Still the reports of Ukraine’s success with a counter-drone laser must be taken seriously, as the Ukrainian government has a well-established platform for coordinating technological advances. Called Brave1, this government support body for private defence contractors has been particularly active in drone and counter-drone weaponry, yet would only state that it was “unable to provide any comments regarding the Tryzub weapons system or its development.”

But when speaking about how Ukrainian forces are innovating on the battlefield, particularly in response to the increasing number of Russian drones and loitering munitions, Col. Sukharevskyi was clear about the laser weapons deployment, “I repeat,” he said, “laser technologies are already striking objects at a certain height.”

As is standard for ground-breaking weaponry, details on the new laser weapon have been kept secret and no photos are available. Consequently, not much is known about the system and its deployment, although it is thought that the ‘aircraft’ it has destroyed is most likely to be a drone or drones. It is also speculated that the laser weapon could have been mounted onto the back of a truck, as this has already been successfully tested by British armed forces.

To learn more about this counter-drone technology read: British Army Tests Portable Laser for Anti-Drone Defence

Similar weapons have also been deployed on active duty, but this is the first claim of its successful use in battle.

As the arms industry journal Defense News reports, “Comparable weapons, such as the South Korean Skylight, which entered regular production last year and has a similar range of two to three kilometers, is housed in a container with a volume of 81 cubic meters and generates approximately 700°C heat during ten- to twenty-second impulses. It entered service in December 2024.”

Japan is also known to have a laser weapon, although this is attached to a truck and has a 10-kilowatt laser.

Defence analysts are now trying to assess if the Ukrainian laser system has been imported from an ally or if it has been developed in Ukraine.

This is based on the fact that in April 2024, the British government promised to deliver significant amounts of ‘lethal aid’, although details of what has been sent remain classified due to what the UK’s Ministry of Defence citing “both operational and commercial reasons.”

According to Leo Docherty, the British armed forces minister at the time, the counter-drone system was simply not yet ready. Although some believe that the laser weapon may have been completed far ahead of schedule as the original completion date had already been publicly pushed forward from 2033 to 2027. Perhaps then, the UK is using the Ukrainian frontline as a testing ground for the system but does not yet want to publicise the news.

“Laser directed-energy systems, in a military context, are predominantly at the proof-of-concept stage,” notes an industry insider in an anonymous interview with Defense News. “These could, in theory, be fielded as an initial operating capability.”

MBDA, which is leading the Dragonfire project, has declined to comment, as has the supporting company Qinetiq. While Leonardo, another defence contractor involved in the laser system has stated that “there is no connection between Tryzub and the Dragonfire system.”

“It is entirely possible that Tryzub is indeed an indigenous Ukrainian development,” says Linus Höller, a journalist and expert analyst on developments in the war in Ukraine. “The country has a significant military-industrial base rooted in its significance to the Soviet military complex, important parts of which were based in the now-independent country. Combined with what is commercially available in the laser realm, crafty local engineers might have been able to build a Tryzub-like weapon.”

The reported success of Ukraine's laser weapon system marks a potential turning point in modern warfare, representing a leap from concept to prototype to battlefield application. If verified, this achievement would establish Ukraine as a pioneer in directed-energy weaponry, challenging long-held assumptions about the practicality and effectiveness of laser systems in combat.

As nations worldwide watch closely, the emergence of Tryzub and its success in stopping the waves of drone attacks which have become a signature of the conflict could reshape national defence strategies all round the world. It could also accelerate the global race to develop practical laser-based armaments and signal a new dawn for warfare, as the search for effective counter-drone measures begins in earnest.

Photo credit: UK Ministry of Defence on Wikipedia, Slon pics on Freepik, Dvidshub, & Wikimedia