As the war continues, the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced that it is going to invest $1.2 billion in the development of Israel's Magen Or laser system for missile interception.
We are talking about an enormous amount of money. In my opinion, the Americans are extremely interested in the most urgent development of a system capable of, so to speak, "breaking parity" both in regard to defense - the protection of their forces in the Middle East, which suffer greatly from missile attacks, and as an offensive weapon that in the future can be placed on military planes, ships and land platforms. In other words, something that has the potential to be a true breakthrough on the battlefield.
By the grace of G-d, blessed be His name, Israel remains a leader in the development of laser weapons, outperforming even the United States.
Let me remind you that the American company Boeing has been engaged for many years in such developments. However, it's a heavy laser, which can be installed only on transport aircraft. Yet even ground-based systems that are being developed around the world are mostly based on the usage of a chemical laser, which requires a heavy and bulky system that is difficult to move in the field and cannot be installed on light aircraft.
In Israel, meanwhile, as we know, a few years ago a breakthrough was made in creating a laser that is based not on chemical but on electrical power. Such a system is much easier to produce and maintain.
Overall, by the grace of the Almighty, Israel has for a long time had a distinguished "tradition" of creating innovative weapons systems, most of which turn out to be much lighter and more convenient than similar systems produced by the great powers, while having the same and sometimes even better characteristics.
For example, Israel's Ofek satellites are considered to have some of the highest capabilities in the world, while weighing much less than any American or Russian spy satellite.
The Israeli breakthrough in laser weaponry was first publicized about two years ago. At that time, the developers reported that they had managed to overcome one of the most fundamental limitations of laser weapons - atmospheric interference.
Atmospheric interference is caused by clouds and generally bad weather. Apparently, this was one of the reasons why in some of the Israeli experiments the laser was mounted on an airplane capable of flying above the clouds.
Actually, in contrast to a ground-based platform, an airplane-mounted platform has a number of other advantages in addition to overcoming atmospheric interference. For example, using an airplane-mounted platform, it is possible to achieve much earlier interception, even during the missile's acceleration phase, when the missile is just beginning to take off. Additionally, such a system can be moved more quickly from one location to another and can be used to protect different areas. Therefore, the area that an airplane-mounted laser can protect is much larger. Such a system can also be used to protect ground troops fighting on the territory of the enemy.
Anyhow, Elbit and Rafael have previously announced that they are jointly developing a laser system that can be mounted on ground vehicles and can protect large groups of maneuvering vehicles from missiles and other weapons.
The ground-based laser system, the Magen Or, would supplement Iron Dome and, under good weather conditions, could provide accurate and rapid interception at virtually zero cost.
Furthermore, according to Israeli Defense Ministry publications, it seems that the top priority is to develop a laser system capable of intercepting heavy medium-range missiles such as the Scud and Shihab.
In my opinion, it's very likely that our defense campaigns are also engaged in the development of offensive laser weapons capable of hitting, yet at the speed of light, a broad range of targets - aircraft, vehicles, ships, including conducting pinpoint eliminations.
Obviously, this area of laser application has literally "no limits". As soon as laser weapons become operational, which according to many estimates will happen in 2-3 years, they can be used both for defense and offensive purposes. Therefore, Israeli successes in the field of laser weapons (both defensive and offensive) are extremely attractive to the Americans.
From my perspective, I must also mention the Hasidic side of this issue. Laser weapons, as we know, are weapons of "light" - we are talking about a focused (and correlated) and therefore energetically powerful light beam. In the teachings of Hasidism, "light" is considered to be of great importance. Of course, we are talking about the divine light of the Creator, blessed be His name, which creates us from nothing and energizes us with life, which pierces our whole world and connects us with other worlds through studying the Torah and keeping the commandments - in other words, through serving G-d, as it is said: "for the commandment is a candle, and the Torah is the light".
Therefore, we are convinced that divine light and holiness are the "secret weapon" and, at the same time, the most powerful weapon of the people of Israel. Now this truth is also materialized in the physical dimension - in Israel's development of a laser weapon - a weapon of light, in the successful practical use of which we, by the grace of the Almighty, are the first in the world.
It is no coincidence that the United States is ready to invest enormous resources in this Israeli development, thus confirming that it is us, Israel who are the world leaders in this field.
"Weapons of Light" - for the people of light, the people of Israel, who are enlightening the whole world!