China's Neighbor Developing Futuristic Laser Weapon

Taiwan has developed a high-energy laser cannon with the help of a foreign "friend."

The vehicle-mounted weapon, code-named "Lightning Protection Project," was built by Taiwan state-owned arms developer the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST). It is reportedly nearing the testing stage. according to local news outlet the Liberty Times.

Democratic Taiwan has been boosting its defense efforts in recent years amid increasing Chinese military activity in the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, including by raising its defense budget and completing the first of eight planned indigenous submarines. The Chinese Communist Party government in Beijing claims the island as its territory despite never having ruled there.

The offensive output of the 50-kilowatt laser gun would be comparable to the DE M-SHORAD prototypes mounted on Stryker armored vehicles that the U.S. Army recently sent to the Middle East to test how they operate in harsh conditions such as sandstorms.

Technical guidance from an unnamed friendly country has accelerated Taiwan's transition from development of a low-powered laser to a battlefield-ready medium-powered weapon, the Liberty Times cited a senior Taiwanese government official as saying.

Several other countries including Israel, Turkey, Germany, Japan and China have also developed laser weapons.

Though not named by the official, the United States is far and away Taiwan's main weapons supplier, with the self-ruled island last month taking delivery of its13th arms sale from the Biden administration alone.

Though the U.S. switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in the 1970s, the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act obligates Washington to provide Taiwan with defensive weaponry and to remain capable of resisting "resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan."

NCSIST researchers have discussed the benefits of using the laser along with weapons platforms already in Taiwan's arsenal, such as the U.S.-made Avenger missile system, to maximize effectiveness against some rockets and large drones while minimizing collateral damage.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Army and NCSIST via written requests for comment.

There is also a considerable cost advantage to deploying high-energy lasers in combat.

Israel's "Iron Beam" anti-missile laser system, for example, costs about $3 per shot compared with upwards of $40,000 for each Tamir missile fired as part of the country's Iron Dome air defense system.

Reports emerged last week that NCSIST has been awarded the contract to develop uncrewed surface vessels (USV) that could be packed with explosives and deployed en masse to frustrate an attempted invasion force from China.