NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has begun work on a helicopter-mounted laser weapon to neutralise hostile drones, with development scheduled to be completed by the end of 2029, sources in the defence establishment said.
Two DRDO laboratories are working on the project along with a private industry partner. The Hyderabad-based Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS) is developing the laser directed-energy weapon (DEW) itself, while the Dehradun-based Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE) is handling the stabilised gimballed pod that will house the sensors and direct the beam.
The pod, which will weigh up to 180 kg, will carry a thermal imager, a day camera and an eye-safe laser rangefinder. These will detect and track small drones as far as 5 km away, before the beam is locked on to them from up to 2 km to bring them down. Hindustan Aeronautics' advanced light helicopter (ALH) Dhruv and its armed variant Rudra are being looked at as the likely platforms, the sources added.
"The detailed technical requirements have been shared with the industry partner and work has begun. The real challenge will be to keep the beam locked on a small, fast-moving drone even as the helicopter vibrates and manoeuvres," said a source.
The plan is to integrate a prototype with the CHESS laser within two years, followed by flight-safety trials and airworthiness certification by the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), with the entire project slated for completion by end-2029, sources added.
The project has assumed urgency with cheap drones fast emerging as the weapon of choice in modern conflicts. This was starkly evident during Operation Sindoor last year, when Pakistan launched successive waves of drones at Indian military installations and civilian areas.
The West Asia war this year, in turn, has exposed the ruinous cost asymmetry of conventional air defence. Drones costing $20,000 to $50,000 apiece have repeatedly forced the US and Israel to expend interceptor missiles worth $1 million to $5 million each.
Laser weapons, in sharp contrast, offer a virtually inexhaustible magazine at a negligible cost per shot as long as power is available. The DRDO itself estimates that firing its laser for a few seconds costs roughly as much as a couple of litres of petrol.
"No military can sustain a war in which a missile worth crores is expended on a drone worth a few lakh. A heli-borne laser also brings mobility since it can be rushed to forward areas instead of merely guarding fixed sites," said another source.
The move also comes at a time when the very relevance of military helicopters on the modern battlefield is under question. The US Army, for instance, scrapped its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft programme in February 2024 after sinking around $2 billion into it, holding that the Ukraine war had fundamentally altered aerial reconnaissance.
Japan, on its part, has considered retiring its attack helicopters in favour of drones and loitering munitions. South Korea has reassessed a deal for 36 more Apaches over fears about their vulnerability in combat.
The DRDO, incidentally, has already made considerable headway with ground-based laser systems. It demonstrated its 30-kW vehicle-mounted Mk-II(A) laser at Kurnool in April last year, when it brought down fixed-wing and swarm drones.
More powerful 50-kW and 100-kW systems are now being developed under the Sudarshan Chakra mission to build a multi-layered national air defence shield. The 300-kW "Surya", capable of striking targets up to 20 km away, is also on the drawing board.
India, of course, is not alone in the race. Israel, which received its first ground-based Iron Beam laser system in December last year, has Elbit Systems developing an airborne version for its air force, even as China continues to pour resources into directed-energy weapons.
The project, however, has an Achilles' heel. Critical sub-systems such as the video tracker, servo drives and gyroscopes will still be sourced from abroad, sources said, pointing to the country’s continued import dependence for niche defence technologies.