Public opinion generally supports Israel's deployment of the Iron Beam laser defense system, perceiving it as a significant technological advancement with potential military advantages. Enthusiasm prevails, with many expressing pride in Israel's capabilities. However, there are voices of skepticism regarding the effectiveness of the technology against practical threats, concerns about military funding, ethical implications, and the potential for misuse in conflicts.

Israel

International Community

waffleman258

These guys making Marjorie Taylor Greene look like she can see the future lol

DoctaMario

You mean America’s new military laser, right?

firewalkwithheehee

Isreal's new war toy, provided by american taxpayers and *directed by Micheal Bay*

Gougeded

All my tax dollars and they can’t even make decent propaganda smh

Trick-Technician-179

Big_LoBok

Russia has been using similar systems (Zadira) in Ukraine for like the last 3 years with unimpressive results vs traditional interception and air defense. For one thing any moisture in the air scatters and degrades the effectiveness of the laser, and that's before getting into power, heating, and being a large and easily pinpointed drone target.

Turgius_Lupus

ippleing

Expected a more creative name, something like "Grynszpan's Vengeance", "Goyim Retribution" or even "Wesienthal's Judgement" ....

CnlJohnMatrix

IDF propaganda feeling more and more like a film trailer from the 90s. 🥱

Happy-Investigator-

Anyone else get a Robocop vibe from this? Lol

Should be a blast at concerts!

LeftyBoyo

realistically, is this any impediment to the Houthi's current barrages?  
realistically, that's all that matters now.

sud_int

8th time is a charm; preparations A-G were a failure.

PDXDeck26

Were these not developed 10-15 years ago?

Rrekydoc

We’re in our *Wunderwaffe* era 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻

GrumpyOldHistoricist

dick-mustardson

They drop hundreds of millions on this, but can't pay a guy to instruct their tank crews to remember to close the hatch after getting inside? al-Qassam has cooked like a hundred boys by now.

You'd really think "close the fucking hatch" would be a day one kinda lesson.

Not that I mind, to be fair.

xray-pishi

furcifersum

I just read about it today. Very nice defensive weapon together with the iron dome. I bet they will be selling that weapon to some western countries. Hope they make a handsome profit on it.

l397flake

Does anyone know how this will handle cluster missles? Iran has been bragging about having those now.

Deciheximal144

&gt;Compared to the Tamir interceptor missiles used by the Iron Dome which cost approximately $70-100k per interception (typically requiring two interceptors per target), the Iron Beam reduces this cost to approximately $3 per interception.


For real? Can you link some sources OP? I'm interested in learning more.

Tricky-Anything8009

No it's not. It is a widely accepted military axiom that every defense will eventually fail, most famously the “impenetrable” French Maginot Line, which the Germans simply went around. Since Israel has no strategy to end its wars, only tacticts, it cannot not solve the political problem with the Aeab world. Israel’s defenses must work every time while the attackers must be successful only once, as they were on October 7. 

That Israel refusal to pursue a political strategy is perplexing given the Arab consensus for peace and disarmament of groups like Hamas. All 22 Arab states unanimously sued for peace with the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and have recently condemned Hamas and demanded its disarmament and, with the “New York Declaration” joined with Europeans and offered to stand up a new US back government in Gaza and a demilitarized Palestinian state and end of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel refuses to negotiate. 

Even if they don't like every detail, isn't there a basis for negotiation?

globalgoldstein

finally, the zionist entity will be able to conduct it's genocide without interruption.

what will happen on those rainy days when the power plants get hit?

checkssouth

This ought to hold at least until Israeli materials engineers come up with a way to mass-manufacture carbon nanotubule compound cables with a tensile strength orders of magnitude greater than any material known today. As soon as one is strong enough to withstand a blast from even the most powerful conventional explosive, the Israeli government can make an enormous net dome over the entirety of Israel. Then haters can lob missiles at Israel all day long, and Israelis can just look up and watch the fireworks show.

… But actually, I’m just here for the tasteless Jewish Space Laser jokes.

VelvetyDogLips

This last remark: "(especially if the system is later adopted for offensive capabilities)" since it's basically sci-fi and wasn't done yet.

It's as much a gamechanger as the iron dome was, minimizing civilian harm and giving the politicians more processing time.

But as far as I understood reading about the system previously. It was meant to be used against rockets and not anything heavier. Extended range &amp; ballistic missile engagement is welcome but lasers are generally low range. It'll probably be used as a 2nd layer defense against ballistic missiles since those can maneuver.

Next possible future/sci fi version with enough power is a plasma type projectile which completely destroy enemy missiles. But that'll require advancements in power (fusion and the like).

  
oh btw, did they explain or write how the power generation is achieved? is it a battery storing power, some generator powering it or a chemical energy generation?

Shachar2like

Not convinced it's a game-changer: it could save the US some money, since the US funds Iron Dome, or allow Israel to spend its handouts on other things. Though each battery will be extraordinarily expensive, so maybe the US still won't save any money.

On the technical side, it won't work in cloudy weather, and can't defend against threats like hypersonic missiles. So in a 'real' war, these would be taken out first together with other missile defence sites and military runways, allowing drones to finish the job unopposed.

I'm actually slightly unsure what the point of this is at this point, Netanyahu's war objective is to eliminate Hamas and control Gaza, so there won't be any rockets anyway. In which case these batteries will remain expensive demo models and no more will be built.

Tallis-man

sounds like Israel is a bit of an open air prison too having to live under such threat and need to dome to protect them

ThrowRA-beebalm

They'll just start putting a high polish on missiles. Lasers are utterly useless, especially during sandstorms...

StandardAntique8356

Then, if fusion comes online. All the authoritarian regimes kaput.

Ok-Pangolin1512

mcalmond

Hopefully, this Iron Beam will be a success. If Japan and the South Korea buy it, North Korean Taepodong missile doesn't have any chance. 👍🇮🇱

Pastasteak

StuffNo353

All these laser weapons are a scam and don't work as claimed in either the US, Israel or China. They can shoot down slow-flying plastic drones, but not hypersonic missiles. These lasers have a range of about **6 kilometers** in good weather, and an Iranian warhead flies that distance in about **2 to 3 seconds**.

Top-Reaction-5492

For sure it will help but I don't see it fundamentally changing the game, it's a supplemental system.

Embarrassed_Poetry70

Err, hate to break it to you, but Saudia Arabia recently went live with China's laser defence system, which they paid good money for, and it turned out to be a disaster.

Lasers require just the right weather and atmospheric conditions to be effective.

But it's funny how you're now admitting to the shortcomings of Israel's air defence systems when you think you have something better, even though it was being denied while Iran was raining down missiles on Tel Aviv, and afterwards.

mayman233

It will be a game changer until someone comes up with a new method of attacking that bypasses it or reduces its effectiveness. 

Since the beginning of warfare, whenever offense improves, defense improves and vice versa, so we'll see what happens.

LV426acheron

Oh will it ever.   
Brings the cost of self defense down to zip while neutralizing million dollar projectiles right and left.   
My bet is the US will have that system deployed in no time as well.

Inocent_bystander

I hate that the Iron Dome is a thing. And I hate that the Iron Beam is a thing even more. I’d be much happier if it weren’t a thing. 

But, not everything goes as I wish it would and it was always known that Israel has the upper hand in this conflict. The new tools only enhance this advantage even more. 

Early-Possibility367

Next step: get it in space. We’re nearly there.

superfire444

Good, if the cost reduces for interceptions related to drones and rockets, then more money can be diverted towards the interception of ballistic and hypersonic missiles which are much more difficult.

element14040

https://preview.redd.it/sf13ieoaespf1.png?width=473&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=3521db4037cd7c5311cfa7bed143cd452ae40b99

We've made history today. Well done! Long live the Jewish space laser.

tigerLRG245

Give it a decade of back and forth and these things will be everywhere on everything. Israel is going to have to update their powergrid.

CholentSoup

Damn the innovation from Israel continues to woo me every time.

amogh12

3$ per interception 

Instead of 40k$ 

This will save money. Lots of it. 

We could reinvest the saved money into the economy 

We could invest it back into the army and get more weapons or more inventions 

We could be much less dependent on American aid for the iron dome

We could sell or help other countries with thjs.

When is it coming into deployment? This is good.

Deep_Head4645

Next step will be weaponizing bright green plasma pulses that explode on impact replacing our m4’s?????

https://preview.redd.it/svqdrk447spf1.jpeg?width=1200&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=64ec79bf73fbd1a68945e1ba16e3df6ec17fc512

One-Salamander-1952

I would like to know how long it takes to shoot down each rocket or drone.  It looks like it takes a while to heat the surface of the projectile to the point where it explodes.

DarthKava

why not in hebrew lol
foreigners could learn at least how to count to three

Aromatic-serve-4015

Yo, I dig the name, love this whole thing. I wonder how effective it can be at large scale! This is awesome!

pr1nt3rJ

Look who has the space laser now. Don’t give it to Spain, UK, France

SaintofKillers420

FantaOrangenice

When the rockets rain down next time it will just look like a nationwide rave... wait, do these also play music? ..it has the amperage..

Iasso

Camp_Past

I have serious concerns on the per unit (not per interception) cost of such a system, which combined with a likely extremely limited range might make it not as prevalent as I'd like.

It also remains to be seen how quickly and effectively can drone, rocket and mortar shell designs adapt to counter it.

Either way, this is where I'd bet most of my money on when it comes to defending against a high volume of low cost airborne threats in the future.

Ideally every base and surface vessel would have one or a few of these but it might not be viable.

Also, it remains to be seen how it's used doctrinally speaking because if you let something get close enough to be in laser range you're royally fucked if the laser doesn't work, as most other interception options are off the table by then.

The usecase I see the most future for is against mortar shells though, as you can't really intercept them much earlier, and it's almost always "not worth it" to even try to do so with other methods.

Kirxas

The purple laser colour is giving me *Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future* (1986-87) vibes:

https://youtu.be/xUYesRQsDz8?si=qKJ87kn9izYqXcDd

TheDeanof316

Wanna buy it?  Back of the line for anti-Israel NATO states.

esq_stu

FINALLY ALMOST A SPACE LASER.
AM ISRAEL CHAI

ZxlSoul

So the rockets hav to be very shiny now I guess

Disastrous-Height483

This is Unless if the drones are painted blue...

Low-Vermicelli-9660

Game changer for defense, this is amazing

meeni131

Don't lasers only cut specific materials, dependent on the wavelength. Would this not mean you can laser proof a missile with paint?

gigajoules

Unfair_Cry6808

Primary News Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/israeli-anti-missile-laser-system-iron-beam-ready-military-use-this-year-2025-09-17/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/laser-based-iron-beam-interception-system-declared-operational/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-17/israel-says-it-s-developed-laser-weapon-to-stop-missiles-drones

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-867735

Official Company Information:

https://www.rafael.co.il/system/iron-beam/

satty237

npquest

We got the real Jewish Space Laser before The Batman 2 smh

android151

all politics aside, drones as a weapons system are terrifying because of their cheapness, simplicity, and numbers. a non-projectile based defense system that can reliably eliminate small flying robots is a good step

MERCILESS_PREJUDICE

Great… let’s give MTG a reason to go “look I was right”

Tirrus

Ineffective against small and maneuverable and high speed drones or missiles. And very ineffective against swarms of drones. 

God knows what’ll happen when the drones are plated with mirrors.

PlanetCosmoX

The US Navy has been using lasers to take down drones.

BillLaswell404

[deleted]

&gt; lasers shooting down flying robots 

This is some biblical shit.

Mullet_Police

RustedRelics

Wait until Marge The Giant hears about this 🤣

sonyyyyyafraser

I remember when they said this was for conspiracy nuts. Same with the UFOs.

It’s obvious how scared the public is of reality.

WareHouseCo

Mountain_hermit85

NorthernPufferFL

“Hold your fire? What? Are we paying by the laser now?”

SkarlyComics

Iron Dome pshaw. If only they had a Golden Dome.

Underp0pulation

How do you stop a drone attack that has the amount of drones you see in those super fancy drone show?

akechi

Crispysnipez

winelover08816

Israel has deployed the Iron Beam, a high-power laser interception system reshaping military defense capabilities.

Israel's Iron Beam Laser Defense System

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