Commenting on the use of DragonFire in the Royal Navy, Dr David Blagden, from the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute, said: “The particular value of directed-energy weapons like this is that each ’round’ they fire costs a tiny fraction of what it costs to fire a surface-to-air missile or even an anti-air gun – and you can keep firing them as long as you have power available, rather than running out of missiles once your silo’s empty. They will also obviously be less vulnerable to anti-missile countermeasures, although they will have limitations of their own (e.g. lasers rely on direct line-of-sight, can be impeded by things like smoke or vapour, might be countered by incoming weapons’ own heat shielding, and will need to be aimed quickly and accurately enough by a sufficiently advanced targeting radar). “Of course, the Royal Navy will continue to need its most advanced air defence missiles for the foreseeable future – and indeed, will need to further modernise them, as well as growing its stockpiles – to counter ongoing advances in adversaries’ weaponry (such as their anti-ship ballistic missiles and most advanced strike aircraft).“But DragonFire can be a valuable complement to such air defence missiles and guns, unencumbered by the same scarcity constraints, particularly for defending against things like drone swarms (where each incoming munition is not especially fast or capable by itself, but where adversaries may try to swamp traditional air defence missiles and guns with the sheer number of attack drones).” About the University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a Russell Group university that combines world-class research with high levels of student satisfaction. Exeter has over 30,000 students and sits within the Top 15 universities in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 and the Complete University Guide 2025. Exeter is also ranked in the top 200 globally in both the QS World Rankings 2025 and THE World University Rankings 2025. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), more than 99% of our research was rated as being of international quality, and our world-leading research impact has grown by 72% since 2014, more than any other Russell Group university.
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