Laser weapons are gradually making their way from training grounds to the active army. These systems have an undeniable advantage that significantly outweighs the existing disadvantages, according to Alexei Vasiliev, a rocket engineer and author of the Telegram channel "Russian Engineer."
In his opinion, laser air defense (AD) systems are most likely to have niche applications in the coming years.
But. They have an advantage that no one else has, and which is now crucial in the modern concept of mass drone spam to saturate any air defense system—a laser cannot be saturated with false targets, and its ammunition cannot be exhausted.
According to him, such capabilities fill the niche of object air defense, where a short firing range is quite sufficient to cover the object. Also, the use of laser systems is "environmentally friendly" from the point of view of indirect damage from stray own missiles, their warheads, and booster stages.
It is known that the laser air defense system "Posokh", capable of destroying drones at a range of up to 2 km, has already entered service.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that MiG-31BM interceptors were used in tandem with Tu-22M3 bombers.