Russia is preparing to unveil a futuristic ray gun capable of zapping unmanned drones out of the sky in preparation for the robotization of modern and future wars, news agency TASS reported Monday, citing an unidentified representative of a state-owned defense company.
Mounted aboard the chassis of a Buk anti-aircraft missile launcher, the ray gun will have a 360 degree firing arc and be able to take out military-grade, shielded electronics at a range of 10 kilometers, a representative of the United Instruments Corporation (UIC) told TASS.
The weapons' specifications place it in a class far above similar directed energy weapons in service and in development in the West.
Similar weapons in the West have much shorter ranges and are typically able to only fry commercial-grade, unshielded electronics. Military-grade electronics, such as those used in drones, helicopters and precision-guided missiles, are shielded against radiation, and therefore require new and extremely powerful countermeasures to disrupt them.
"In terms of technical characteristics, it has no known analogues in the world," the UIC representative said.
The weapon will be unveiled as part of the Army-2015 defense industry show outside of Moscow, which runs from Tuesday to Friday, he added.
UIC is owned by state defense and high-technology holding Rostec, which is managed by Sergei Chemezov, an alleged close friend and ally of President Vladimir Putin. Under his charge, Rostec's holdings have expanded in recent years to include some two-thirds of Russia's defense industry.
Rostec holdings have become increasingly involved in drone warfare projects, including the development of a Russian combat drone to match the capabilities of the U.S. Reaper, a high-altitude drone made famous for its use in air strikes in the Middle East.
The UIC representative did not elaborate in depth on the specifications of the new weapon, but said it is capable of "out-of-band suppression of electronic equipment" and features a relativistic generator and mirror antenna to power its beams of radiation.
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