The Standard Missile 3 Block IB, launched by U.S. Navy destroyers, made its combat debut on April 13 when it countered Iran’s barrage attacks on Israel. The SM-3 Block IB intercepted Iranian medium-range ballistic missiles in the exo-atmosphere, more than 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. Yet just a few weeks earlier, President Joe Biden’s defense budget terminated production of that same missile in an attempt to “pivot from and discontinue” the SM-3 Block IB procurements in favor of the longer-range SM-3 Block IIA. In fact, these missiles are a...

Ukraine has been deploying a new Tryzub ("Trident" in Ukrainian) laser capable of shooting down an aircraft, according to Interfax-Ukraine. Colonel Vadym Sukharevsky, commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the Tryzub laser can shoot down planes at an altitude just over 1.2 miles, and officials are currently working on improving the range. Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comment via email. Ukraine's deployment of this new laser is significant as it is essential to its continued fight...

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine possesses a laser weapon capable of shooting down airborne targets at an altitude of more than 2 kilometres (1.2 miles), the country's drone forces commander said on Monday. The military official, Vadym Sukharevskyi, did not provide any more details in his first official remarks about the existence of the weapon. Reuters was unable to verify his statement. "Today we can already shoot down aircraft at an altitude of over 2 km with this laser," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Sukharevskyi...