India working on laser weapon systems: Dr VK Saraswat

Hyderabad: India's defence scientists are working towards development of laser weapon systems in the country, according to Dr VK Saraswat, director general of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Dr Saraswat said that the DRDO, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and academic institutions were involved in a lot of work on laser technology for using lasers as weapons. ''There is lot of work going on with regard to laser weapons,'' Dr Saraswat told reporters on the sidelines of the 22nd National Annual Conference of Indian Nuclear Society (INS) here.

"How to produce high-power lasers, how to get that kind of a narrow beam, miniaturised version of a laser power device, all this is called physics. But we have to graduate from the physics portion to the actual engineering portion that is the need of the hour," he stressed.

"It (developing laser weapons) is science getting into engineering and engineering into technology and technology getting into a product. You have to go through that cycle. Our scientists, engineers have to take through this gradual process of development. It's a fairly complex subject," Dr Saraswat explained.

He said the US has done some development on laser technology by having an air-borne system, adding, "They (US) have also some mobile system, which are operational. But in terms of weapon systems (through laser) in those places a lot more is required to be done."