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A laser does not shoot, it holds on. Every target takes a few seconds, and the rest of the swarm does not wait in the meantime.
In practiceThat is why planners look not only at the price per shot, but above all at the number of targets per minute one system can handle, and at what happens when more arrive.
A simple worked example shows why. Suppose a 100 kW class laser needs ± 3 seconds per drone to deposit enough energy (dwell time), plus ± 1 second to slew to the next target and track it.
- A swarm of 30 drones in one minute overwhelms one laser: half of them get through. A second laser, a gun or an HPM weapon has to deal with the rest.
- Range counts twice. At longer range the beam spreads more and the atmosphere weakens it more, so every dwell takes longer. A laser is therefore mainly a weapon for the innermost layer.
- An HPM weapon works out differently. One pulse hits everything in the beam, so a dense swarm is precisely a favourable target (Microunde de înaltă putere (HPM)). Its range is shorter, though.
- Cost per shot. A laser shot costs mainly electricity: a few euros to a few tens of euros. An air defence missile costs tens of thousands of euros to millions. That sum only adds up as long as the laser keeps up the pace.
The lesson for the EW specialist: DEW shifts the question from "how many missiles do we have?" to "how many targets per minute can we handle, and in what weather?" That is exactly where saturation (Contra-UAS & drone-EW) aims: at the moment the defence falls behind.