Russia is using a new Chinese laser system to shoot down Ukrainian drones, according to pro-Russian Telegram channels. The system seen in a video posted to Telegram (social media) on Thursday appears to be at least extremely similar to a system Beijing has apparently already provided to Iran.

The video, posted on the Military Information Telegram channel, opens with scenes of troops inside a vehicle, flicking switches and looking at heavily pixelated screens. The next scene shows the system rising out of the vehicle and then being rotated by a soldier in the vehicle using a joystick. It then cuts to small fiery holes being burned into a metal plate. A subsequent view shows the plate with four holes burned through it, apparently created by the laser.

The next scene shows several screens, with one displaying video of a drone catching fire and spinning out of control, with the implication that the damage was caused by the laser system. A second drone is shown being hit by what appears to be the laser. The video ends with recovered drone segments with burn marks that could be indicative of a laser engagement.

While we can’t say for certain what system this is, or where or when the video was taken, as noted earlier, it is very similar to a system China apparently provided to Iran. From our previous story about that: “…it has a single large aperture on the left side. In addition, there is an aperture with a more squared-off shape on the right side. A similar, if not identical arrangement is visible in Chinese marketing literature for another counter-drone laser weapon called the Shen Nung (also transliterated Shennong). Containerised and 4×4 Dongfeng Mengshi light tactical truck-mounted versions of the Shen Nung – the Shen Nung 5000 and 3000, respectively – have at least been pitched in the past. The pictures reportedly taken in Tehran last week show the system behind a blue tarp screen, but what is visible could point to a containerised variant.”

This is a conclusion also drawn by a Research Fellow Defence and Military Analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Fabian Hinz.

“While the sensor arrangement seems to have been altered, the system observed in Russian service strongly resembles the Chinese Shen Nung 3000/5000 anti-drone laser,” Hinz noted on X.

(TWZ.com)