Russian combat laser systems go on experimental combat duty.

Russian laser systems Peresvet have gone on experimental combat duty, the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Russian Armed Forces, said. "The Peresvet laser systems designed and built along new physical principles have gone on experimental combat duty. The Russian Armed Forces have been receiving them since 2017 under the State Armament Program," the daily said.

Peresvet laser (Picture source: Russian MoD)

The personnel of the units which have adopted the newest weapon for service has been retrained at a base of the A.F. Mozhaisky Military Space Academy and at industrial enterprises where they obtained the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical skills, the newspaper went on to say. "The combat crews who were mastering the modern weapons drilled actions to deploy them and prepare for combat use," Krasnaya Zvezda stressed.

The Peresvet laser system is Russia’s first combat system designed along new physical principles. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first to announce the creation of the Russian combat laser in his address to the Federal Assembly (parliament) on March 1, 2018. Detailed information on the laser system is strictly confidential. Previous reports said that the Russian military were training on new combat laser systems. The Peresvet laser systems received by the troops are stationed near places of permanent deployment, which are fitted out with the infrastructure necessary for combat duty. Special structures have been erected to accommodate the duty staff and deploy the hardware.