Netherlands signs deal for laser system that can destroy dozens of drones per minute

The Dutch Ministry of Defense has announced its partnership with Australian company Electro Optic Systems (EOS) to co-develop and deploy a laser weapon designed to neutralize drone swarms. The Netherlands is the first Western European country to spearhead this procurement, striking a €71.4 million export contract with EOS to secure the direct energy system.

The State Secretary for Defence, Derk Boswijk, signed an official Letter of Intent with EOS. This partnership aims to transition a high-energy laser prototype into a fully operational, mobile military air defense system, Beveiligings Nieuws reported.

The Ministry of Defence is officially investigating whether a dedicated production facility can be established within the Netherlands to manufacture the laser weapons locally. In line with the Dutch Defensienota, the ultimate goal is to integrate these lasers onto military vehicles to protect troops on the move from aerial incursions.

As Russian drone incursions increasingly threaten European airspace, the Dutch investment is being watched closely by other NATO allies, including South Korea and Middle Eastern partners, who have begun making inquiries into the same technology.

The core technology behind this partnership is the Apollo High Energy Laser Weapon System, developed by Canberra-based Electro Optic Systems (EOS). The weapon uses "thermal destruction" by focusing a highly concentrated 100-kilowatt beam of light onto a target. It burns a hole through drones, causing them to melt, ignite, or explode mid-air within seconds, according to EOS.

The Apollo system is capable of knocking out 20 to 50 drones per minute. Because the system operates entirely on electricity, it features a cooling system allowing for continuous firing without reloading, effectively offering unlimited ammunition when connected to an external power source.

“There is a paradigm shift in warfare; the warfare of today, as we can see in Ukraine, is driven by massive attacks by drones, very small drones. It is so cheap to build drones, and it’s very affordable to attack with hundreds of drones," EOS CEO Andreas Schwer said to ABC News Australia. “A drone costs you $1,000, but a missile needed to kill that drone is $500,000."

Traditional anti-drone missiles cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. A single laser shot from the Apollo system costs less than $1. The laser beam travels at the speed of light, making it faster than any conventional missile or anti-aircraft cannon.