# To Ukraine, as it tests its first anti-air lasers

> Dear reader, let me start with the facts, before the emotion. On July 1, 2026, Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, speaking at

- Author: Maxime Marquette
- Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co)
- Section: Open letter
- Published: 2026-07-05
- Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/a-l-ukraine-qui-teste-ses-premiers-lasers-antiaeriens

## Key takeaways

- Fedorov said on July 1, 2026, at the Brave1 Advantage event that Ukraine is testing laser air defense systems and already has some results, but is not yet sharing much detail.
- Ukrainian interceptor drones reportedly shot down nearly 7,000 Shahed and Gerbera drones in May, with interception rates of about 75% to 95% in recent major attacks.
- Lasers promise a near-zero cost per shot, compared with interceptor missiles costing millions of dollars against drones sometimes worth about $20,000.
- The author notes limits: current lasers are sensitive to fog and rain, a RAND report (December 2025) called the technology immature, and the effective range against Shahed drones remains unverified.
- Ukraine also tests low-cost interceptors, including a MaXon Systems drone reportedly costing about $3,500 per interception.

## Introduction: a letter to a country that refuses to bend

### What **Fedorov** just announced

Dear reader, let me start with the facts, before the emotion. On **July 1, 2026**, Ukraine's Defense Minister **Mykhailo Fedorov**, speaking at the **Brave1** Advantage event, confirmed that **Ukraine** is currently testing **laser air defense systems**. His exact words, reported by **RBC-Ukraine**: "We are already testing lasers, and we already have some results. We're not communicating much about it yet, but this field is developing actively."

This is not an offhand statement. It is **official confirmation**, from the country's highest defense technology authority, that **Kyiv** is making concrete progress toward a technology few nations master: intercepting **drones and missiles** with a **laser beam**, a weapon that promises a **near-zero cost per shot** against Russian drones that, by contrast, cost tens of thousands of dollars each.

### Why I am writing you this letter rather than a simple column

I chose the form of the **open letter** because this subject deserves a direct, almost personal address. This is not just another article about an abstract military budget. It is a letter to a people who, under Shahed drone showers for more than three years, keep **innovating faster** than their aggressors can attack them.

*I will say it upfront: applauding this Ukrainian technological advance is not a naive or complacent stance. It is a clear-eyed recognition that the West, through its support for Ukraine, is field-testing technologies that will define anti-air defense for the next decade.*

## The backdrop of an unprecedented drone war

### Numbers that are staggering

To understand why this laser matters so much, one must grasp the scale of the threat it aims to counter. According to data cited by **RBC-Ukraine**, Ukrainian interceptor drones shot down nearly **7,000 Russian Shahed and Gerbera drones** in the month of **May** alone, with an **interception rate** reaching roughly **75% of attack drones** during a **recent massive offensive**, and up to **95% of enemy drones** during the latest major attack on **Kyiv**.

As impressive as these numbers are, they hide an exhausting reality: every night, Ukrainian operators, engineers, and soldiers must intercept **swarms of cheap drones** launched by Russia in the hope of saturating defenses through sheer **numbers** rather than sophistication.

### The long-term target set by the ministry

According to Fedorov, the **Ministry of Defense** aims to reach this same interception efficiency across the entire Ukrainian territory by the end of the **year**, an ambitious target that requires precisely these near-zero marginal-cost technologies like lasers, capable of firing indefinitely without consuming expensive ammunition.

*This **drone war of attrition** reveals something deeply cynical on **Moscow's** part: overwhelming a country with cheap projectiles to exhaust its defense budget faster than its own **missile stockpiles**. Ukraine answers with ingenuity rather than exhaustion, and it is exactly this refusal to give in that commands respect.*

## Why the laser fundamentally changes the equation

### A near-zero cost per shot

The central argument in favor of **directed-energy weapons** is disarmingly simple: an **interceptor missile** often costs several million dollars to shoot down a Russian drone that, itself, is sometimes worth only **$20,000**. A laser system, once built and powered, can theoretically fire a **nearly unlimited** number of times without ever running out of ammunition, at a **ridiculously low marginal cost** compared to conventional interceptors.

This economic logic explains why several Ukrainian companies, including **Celebra Tech** with its **Trident** system mounted on the **Tryzub** platform, are working in parallel on lasers capable of **burning through the armor** of a drone in three to four seconds from several kilometers away, according to information reported by **19FortyFive** and by Israeli defense-focused media.

### **Israel**, precedent and source of inspiration

Ukraine is not starting from scratch in this race. According to information relayed by specialized media, it would become the **second country in the world**, after **Israel** and its **Iron Beam** system, to deploy an operational laser air defense capability, a comparison that shows how far this technology, long dismissed as **science-fiction fantasy**, is becoming a **battlefield** reality.

*I remain cautious before declaring a technological miracle: lasers have never entirely replaced conventional defenses anywhere in the world, not even in Israel. But every dollar saved on an interception shot is a dollar that can fund something else, and in a war of attrition, that arithmetic ends up mattering enormously.*

## The technical limits that must be named honestly

### A technology still young and sensitive to conditions

It would be dishonest to present this advance to you as an immediately deployable, large-scale miracle solution. Specialized analyses of Ukrainian air defense note that current laser systems remain sensitive to **atmospheric conditions**, with **fog** and **rain** significantly reducing their effectiveness, and that their power often remains insufficient to destroy targets the size of a **Shahed** at operationally useful distances.

A **RAND Corporation** report published in **December 2025** on directed-energy weapons in fact described this technology as relatively **immature** and not yet viable as an operational option in its current state, a finding that calls for caution against the **media enthusiasm** surrounding every new demonstration.

### The deliberate vagueness around exact capabilities

Fedorov himself acknowledged not wanting to share more details at this stage, an **understandable reserve** for reasons of **operational security**, but one that also leaves outside observers, myself included, unable to independently verify the **actual range**, power, or **success rate** of these systems in combat conditions.

*I prefer this deliberate caution to premature triumphalist messaging. A country at war that keeps its technological cards close to its chest is acting wisely, even if it means I cannot, for now, guarantee you the exact scale of this advance.*

## An innovation ecosystem that goes beyond the laser alone

### Low-cost interceptors, an indispensable complement

The laser represents only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Ukraine's Ministry of Defense is currently testing developments from about a **dozen companies** creating **low-cost missiles** specifically designed to intercept drones, while also pursuing work on systems meant to counter Russian **ballistic missiles** and **guided aerial bombs**.

This diversification of defensive means reflects a **pragmatic Ukrainian doctrine**: never depend on a single technology, but stack complementary defensive layers, from Western systems like **Patriot** and **NASAMS** to the cheapest locally made interceptor drones.

### The striking example of autonomous interceptor drones

A concrete example of this ingenuity: according to information reported in early June 2026, a system developed by the Kyiv-based startup **MaXon Systems**, a member of the **Brave1** cluster, reportedly achieved a near-autonomous interception of Shahed drones in the **Kharkiv** region, for a cost of about **$3,500** per interceptor against a Russian Shahed estimated at **$40,000 to $80,000**.

*This **cost asymmetry**, thousands of dollars against tens of thousands, illustrates exactly why Ukrainian innovation deserves to be **celebrated** without reservation: it is not chasing abstract technological perfection, it is chasing the efficiency that saves lives and budgets at the same time.*

## What this means for Western support

### A two-way technological partnership

The development of these Ukrainian lasers is not happening in a vacuum. It fits into a broader ecosystem where Western allies, including the **United Kingdom** with its **DragonFire** project, are developing their own directed-energy weapons in parallel, with discussions already underway on a possible **transfer of prototypes** to Ukraine to speed up testing under real combat conditions.

This technology transfer works both ways: Ukraine serves as an **open-air laboratory** where Western allies can observe, in real time, the effectiveness of their own innovations against a drone threat that no Western country faces on a comparable scale on its own soil.

### A strategic investment that benefits the entire Western camp

Every dollar invested in Ukrainian air defense, including in these still-experimental laser technologies, is an investment in the military readiness of the entire **NATO** alliance against a cheap drone threat that will certainly not be limited to the Ukrainian theater in the years ahead.

*I stand by this firmly: financially and technologically supporting this Ukrainian innovation is not geopolitical charity, it is a **direct strategic investment** in the future security of every Western country that will, sooner or later, have to face similar drone swarms.*

## The human dimension behind the technical feat

### Engineers working under the sirens

It must be said plainly: these technological advances are not developed in quiet labs sheltered from danger. The Ukrainian engineers and researchers working on these laser systems do so in a country where **air raid alerts** punctuate daily life, where **power outages** complicate testing, and where every technical delay can literally cost civilian lives the following night.

This constant pressure, far from paralyzing Ukrainian innovation, seems instead to have radically accelerated it, a painful but real paradox: the absolute necessity of survival has turned Ukraine into a **military innovation hub** the West should draw more inspiration from.

### What this resilience says about national character

**Zelensky** himself has often highlighted this rapid-adaptation capacity of Ukraine's defense industry, an agility that few Western military bureaucracies, often weighed down by multi-year **procurement cycles**, manage to match in comparable timeframes.

*I never romanticize war, it remains a human tragedy above all. But I also refuse to deny what this letter documents: a nation that turns its daily survival into an engine of innovation deserves a respect that goes far beyond mere diplomatic lip service.*

## The relative silence of Western media on this story

### Coverage that remains marginal

Despite the strategic importance of this announcement, mainstream **Western media coverage** remains relatively muted, with the information circulating mostly in specialized defense and military technology circles rather than in major general-interest headlines. This imbalance in media attention contrasts with the scale of the geopolitical implications of an operational laser capability in an active war zone.

This media discretion is not necessarily suspicious: it also reflects Kyiv's legitimate caution, which prefers to limit publicity around capabilities still in the testing phase rather than draw extra Russian attention to vulnerable installations.

### Why this silence should not last

I nonetheless believe this story deserves more public attention in the West, if only because **Western taxpayers**, through their respective governments, indirectly fund part of this innovation ecosystem, whose strategic payoffs they should legitimately be able to measure.

*I am struck, a little more each week, by the gap between the real scale of Ukrainian military innovation and the space it occupies in Western public debate. We talk more about Washington's political dramas than about a country redefining, before our eyes, the rules of modern warfare.*

## The questions that remain open

### When will this laser actually be operational

No precise combat-deployment date has been officially communicated for this specific laser system mentioned by Fedorov. Other similar projects, such as the Tryzub system developed by Celebra Tech, are, according to the latest available information, in a final testing phase, with no officially confirmed deployment date either.

This temporal uncertainty is nothing unusual in the development of breakthrough weapons technology, but it prevents me, in all intellectual honesty, from promising you a precise timeline in this letter.

### What real range against long-distance Shahed drones

The most strategically important question remains the effective range of these lasers against targets flying at high altitude and long distance, like Shahed drones launched deep into Ukrainian territory. The publicly documented systems currently available, such as Tryzub, still seem optimized mainly for smaller, closer targets, reconnaissance **FPV drones**, rather than for **large-scale interception** of cruising Shahed drones.

*I refuse to fill this information gap with optimistic guesswork. As long as Kyiv does not share verifiable figures on effective range against Shahed drones, I prefer the honesty of acknowledged doubt over a technological promise the facts do not yet fully support.*

## The comparison with the Russian war effort

### An innovation asymmetry that favors Kyiv

While Ukraine invests in low-cost, highly repeatable solutions like lasers and interceptor drones, Russia continues to mostly rely on the **sheer volume** of its Shahed swarm attacks, a strategy betting on **numerical saturation** rather than qualitative innovation of its own defensive means.

This strategic divergence between the two sides illustrates a deeper cultural difference: Ukraine, constrained by limited resources, must optimize every dollar spent, while Russia, despite **Western sanctions**, keeps producing cheap drones by betting on quantity to offset a growing qualitative disadvantage.

### A balance of power that could tip

If Ukrainian lasers reach sufficient operational maturity in the coming months, they could durably reverse this logic of saturation by numbers that has long favored Moscow, making every wave of Russian drones **increasingly economically unviable** to launch against defenses capable of intercepting at near-zero cost.

*This is precisely the tipping point the **Kremlin** fears, I am convinced of it: the day Ukraine can intercept entire waves of Shahed drones for a few cents per shot, Russia's entire **numerical saturation** doctrine will collapse on its own, for lack of military profitability.*

## What this letter really wants to tell you

### A lesson in resilience that goes beyond technology

Dear reader, if you take away just one thing from this letter, let it be this: the story of this Ukrainian laser is not fundamentally a story of beam physics or precision engineering. It is the story of a people who refuse to let an aggressor better endowed in raw resources but lacking in innovative agility dictate the pace of their own survival.

Every system tested, every improved prototype, every dollar saved on an interception cost represents a **silent victory** against a war of attrition that **Russia** hoped to win simply by exhausting Western stockpiles and budgets.

### Why the West must stay by its side

This laser advance, as promising as it is, will never replace the urgent need for proven Western air defense systems, ammunition, and **continuous funding**. It adds to this effort, it does not replace it, and it is precisely for this reason that Western support must remain constant, predictable, and generous enough for these innovations to have time to reach full operational maturity.

*I will close this section with a simple conviction: every euro, every dollar, every pound sterling invested in this Ukrainian effort is never wasted, it buys time, innovation, and, ultimately, stronger **Western deterrence** against Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.*

## The message Kyiv sends to the rest of the world

### A **technological showcase** despite the war

By revealing, even partially, the existence of these laser tests, Ukraine sends a clear message to both its allies and its adversaries: despite three and a half years of **war of attrition**, its defense industry keeps innovating at a pace that surprises even the most seasoned Western **military technology** experts.

This message goes beyond the purely military dimension. It also sends an **economic signal**: Ukraine is positioning itself as an **essential player** in tomorrow's **global defense industry**, capable of exporting a **unique expertise** forged under the worst imaginable conditions.

### An implicit invitation to Western investors and governments

This expertise, once the war ends, will represent a **considerable economic asset** for Ukraine, which could become a **major exporter** of low-cost air defense technologies to Western countries themselves facing a **growing proliferation** of cheap drone threats.

*I see in this dynamic an opportunity the West would be wrong to overlook: investing now in Ukraine's defense industry is not only about supporting an ally at war, it is also about intelligently preparing the **Western defense architecture** of the decade ahead.*

## What I hope for going forward

### Gradual transparency, without compromising security

I **understand** and respect Fedorov's current discretion about the precise details of this laser system. But I sincerely hope that, in the coming months, as operational security allows, more verifiable information will be made public, if only so that **citizens of allied countries** can concretely measure the impact of their financial and material support.

This gradual transparency would also serve a **deterrence** purpose: publicly demonstrating, with evidence, that Ukraine has growing technological capabilities could discourage certain waves of Russian attacks before they are even launched.

### Measured hope, never an empty promise

I will be careful not to promise that this laser alone will change the course of the war. That would be a lie, and I refuse to lie in a letter meant to be sincere. But I firmly believe that this innovation, added to dozens of others developed in parallel by Ukraine's defense industry, contributes to an overall dynamic that is, slowly but surely, tilting in Kyiv's favor.

*I close this section with the caution befitting any serious columnist: the hope I place in this **technology** is measured, grounded in verifiable facts, never in blind enthusiasm that would betray the rigor this subject demands.*

## A word on Quebec and France's place in this story

### Concrete but improvable Francophone solidarity

**Canada** and **France** have both contributed to Ukraine's defense effort, whether through training soldiers, delivering equipment, or providing humanitarian funding, but their direct contribution to innovation programs like anti-air lasers remains, so far, largely behind that of the United States, the United Kingdom, or **Germany**. This relative reticence deserves to be corrected, if only for consistency with the pro-Ukrainian rhetoric held in **Ottawa** and **Paris** since the start of the Russian invasion.

**Quebec and French companies** nonetheless possess recognized expertise in **precision optics** and defense systems, know-how that could usefully integrate into the Ukrainian innovation ecosystem if clear political will emerged on both sides of the Atlantic.

*I will say it directly, as a Quebecer: our solidarity with Ukraine should not be limited to polite diplomatic statements. Our tech companies have the means to concretely contribute to this defensive innovation effort, and it is time our governments actively encourage them to do so.*

## Conclusion: a letter that ends, a war that continues

### What I take from this announcement

Dear reader, as I close this letter, I want you to remember this: Ukraine is not just surviving, it is actively innovating, under the worst possible conditions, to turn a war of attrition imposed by Russia into a **technological competition** where its agility and ingenuity can, in time, make all the difference.

### A call to never look away

This anti-air laser, still experimental, still hazy in its details, deserves our continued attention, our **unwavering support**, and our **critical vigilance**. The West chose to stand by Ukraine, and this letter is just one more reminder of why that choice remains, today more than ever, the right one.

*I close this letter the way I began it: with a **clear-eyed admiration**, never a blind one, for a people who turn every hardship into an occasion to innovate. Fedorov's laser is just one chapter among many in this story, but it is a chapter that deserves to be told, again and again.*

**By Maxime Marquette, columnist**

## Columnist's transparency note

### Editorial stance

I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies.

I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events.

### Method and sources

This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here.

**Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies.

**Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations.

When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**.

### Nature of the analysis

The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted.

My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors.

This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text.

## Sources

### Primary sources

- RBC-Ukraine — Ukraine testing laser air defense system, Defense Minister says, July 1, 2026

- Fakti.bg — Ukraine builds naval air defense with drones, July 2026

### Secondary sources

- Army Recognition — Ukraine emerges as world leader in drone technology

- RBC-Ukraine — Pentagon interested in Ukrainian tech

- 19FortyFive — Ukraine's new AI laser replaces $5 million missiles, May 11, 2026

- Reuters — Inside Ukraine's drive to defeat the dreaded Shahed drone, April 29, 2026

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Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/a-l-ukraine-qui-teste-ses-premiers-lasers-antiaeriens