Grant Shapps stated that the DragonFire weapon might have “huge ramifications” for Kyiv’s war with Russia. The weapon is anticipated to be ready for deployment by 2027 at the latest.
However, Mr. Shapps stated that he would investigate whether the speed might be accelerated even more “so that Ukrainians could potentially obtain it.”
“I’ve come down to speed up the production of the DragonFire laser system because I think given that there’s two big conflicts on, one sea-based, one in Europe, this could have huge ramifications to have a weapon capable particularly of taking down drones,” Mr Shapps told reporters at Porton Down.
What I want to do is shorten the time it takes to get it deployed—maybe on ships, arriving drones, and possibly on land—by accelerating the development procurement process, which would typically take a very long time—probably up to ten years, based on my interactions this morning.
