Well about dang time they deployed it. The tech has been around for several years. Anyone who seriously follows this type of tech knew that.
PS Is it “Iron Beam” or “Iron Sting”?
BTW one reason they haven’t deployed it before is you never show your full tech to the enemy until necessary. If you do, the enemy starts working on counters.
Look up the history of how we cracked the Enigma Code in WWII — and then used that tech sparingly — for an example.
But well now it’s necessary.
Lockheed-Martin/Rafael version
Elbit Systems version
100kw solid state lasers
There’s been some delay supposedly an attempt to reduce cost.
I know they started working on that stuff back in the 80's when I was in the military, I'm sure back then it was in it's infancy.
Beam