Netherlands developing high-energy laser weapon to counter drone swarms

The Netherlands has signed a letter of intent with Australian firm Electro Optic Systems to develop the Apollo, a 100-kilowatt laser weapon meant to burn drones out of the sky rather than shoot expensive missiles at them. State Secretary for Defense Derk Boswijk signed off on turning the existing prototype into a full military system, with the ministry also eyeing domestic manufacturing and a European supply chain.

EOS says Apollo can engage 20 to 50 drones per minute under favorable conditions, and the economic logic is straightforward: a laser burns electricity, while current interceptor missiles cost hundreds of times more than the thousand-dollar drones they're built to destroy. The ministry hasn't said how many units it plans to buy or when they'd arrive.

The system is pitched as a supplement to conventional air defense, not a replacement, which matters given that lasers are notoriously picky about weather, line-of-sight, and how long they can hold a beam on a moving target. Those caveats came from the reporting itself, not from anyone at the ministry volunteering them first.

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