'Zadira': Know about Russia's new 'blinding' laser weapon that burns drones in 5 seconds

Russia has deployed its ‘secret’ new generation of powerful laser weapon in the war against Ukraine known as “Zadira” (Задира, Bully) laser system that can silently burn drone targets in the sky “within five seconds”. Moscow unveiled the new weapon to counter Ukraine’s Baykar Bayraktar TB2 that was deployed near snake island to deter Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea. Ukraine’s Bayraktar TB2 armed UAV, infrared camera for night operations, and GPS-GNSS anti-jammer antenna has been patrolling the waters near Odesa.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin had addressed his state-of-the-art laser weapon as ‘Peresvet’ that Russia’s military units are now using in its advanced combat operations against Kyiv’s military forces ensuing in full force on the eastern flank, in the regions of contentious Donbass oblast.

The Russian deployment of laser weapon came in a likely retaliatory move to Ukraine’s Turkish-made medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle Bayraktars that has been observed with two Turkish made weapon systems.

Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone is displayed during a rehearsal of a military parade dedicated to Independence Day in Kyiv. Credit: Associated Press

TB2 that Ukraine’s military has been using for reconnaissance, surveillance, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) operations, was supplied by the US Defense Department as a part of the military assistance package that involved the “laser-guided rocket system.”

Ukraine’s armed forces also released a footage that showed its Bayraktar TB2 destroying Russia’s Electronic Warfare (EW) system, a command post near Kyiv, and 9K317 Buk-M2 TELAR Russian air defense missile systems. 

Moscow’s newly deployed laser weapon system is capable of incinerating its target up to 3 miles, destroying physical objects located at a range of 5 kilometres, and blinding the satellites up to 1,500 km above Earth. But Moscow is known to stockpile much more powerful systems than Peresvet in its arsenal.

"If Peresvet blinds, then the new generation of laser weapons lead to the physical destruction of the target –– thermal destruction, they burn up,” Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Borisov told the state-controlled Channel One. 

Zadira laser weapon.Credit: Twitter/@annaspetsnaz

“It is already being mass-supplied to the (missile) troops, and it can blind all satellite reconnaissance systems of a likely enemy in orbits of up to 1,500 km, disabling them during the flight due to the use of laser radiation,” Borisov said.

He added, “But that, let’s say, is of today, or even in some ways of yesterday: our physicists have now created, and practically mass-produced, laser systems which are more powerful by an order of magnitude that can inflict thermal destruction on various apparatus."

Moscow has already been accused of firing the prohibited Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, a variant of the Iskander short-range ballistic missile that is launched from a fighter jet MiG-31K, at the Ukrainian military targets.

Ukraine's President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy compared Russia's laser system with Nazi Germany's so-called "wonder weapons" that were unveiled during the end of World War II to counter the defeat. "The clearer it became that they had no chance in the war, the more propaganda there was about an amazing weapon that would be so powerful as to ensure a turning point," he said in a video address. 

"And so we see that in the third month of a full-scale war, Russia is trying to find its 'wonder weapon' ... this all clearly shows the complete failure of the mission."

Combat laser complex "Peresvet." Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense

Laser weapons capable of 'permanently blinding' soldiers banned under international convention

Defense analysts have expressed concerns about Moscow’s new deadly laser weaponry being capable of destroying reconnaissance drones, artillery, or even “permanently blinding” the Ukrainian soldiers, an act in war banned under the Protocol IV to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

“It is prohibited to employ laser weapons specifically designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat functions, to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision, that is to the naked eye or to the eye with corrective eyesight devices,” the international convention on war states. “The High Contracting Parties shall not transfer such weapons to any state or state entities,” the prohibitory text reads.

Such a laser weapon is banned in the military manuals worldwide. Australia’s LOAC Manual, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Military Instructions (1992), Cameroon’s Instructor’s Manual (2006), Canada’s LOAC Manual (1999), France’s LOAC Manual (2001), Germany’s IHL Manual (1996), Israel’s Manual on the Laws of War (1998), and Russian Federation’s own Regulations on the Application of IHL (2001) lists “blinding laser weapons” as prohibited weapons during the war. 

In a statement to TV Channel One on Wednesday, May 18, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov confirmed that the [laser weapon systems] have begun arriving [for the army of Russian Federation]. The first types are already being employed [in Russia’s special military operation],” he acknowledged.

“Zadira” system used synonymously with Moscow’s “Peresvet” can disable enemy satellite and reconnaissance systems as it boasts a range of up to 1500 kilometres. Zadira has the capability of “shooting down various types of drones, avoiding expending costly missiles of the Pantsyr and Tor types. It can blind satellites to thwart enemy reconnaissance operations.” Borisov refrained from specifying the areas of the war in which this advanced laser weapon has been deployed by Russian troops.