Inside Elbit's laser lab: How an aerial Iron Beam will alter modern warfare

Elbit Systems is pioneering the development of an aerial application for its Iron Beam laser defense system, a technology that could dramatically reshape modern warfare. While the ground-based version has already been covertly deployed by Israel against Hezbollah drones since October 2024 and publicly since December 2025, Elbit is now focused on adapting the system for aircraft.

The company's Chief Technology Officer, Oded Ben David, explained that while lasers have been used for industrial cutting since the 1960s, the advancement of high-power laser systems was enabled by the later development of fiber lasers. These lasers, used in industrial cutting and welding, are more powerful and less expensive than older gas or crystal types.

Elbit's work on the Iron Beam involves sophisticated techniques such as Coherent Beam Combining (CBC) and phase modulators. These methods allow for the scaling of low-power fiber lasers into a single, highly destructive high-power beam. By precisely controlling the phases of hundreds of individual lasers, Elbit achieves perfect constructive interference, significantly boosting the laser's intensity and range. This advanced technology, witnessed firsthand by The Jerusalem Post at Elbit's facility, is key to enabling aircraft to intercept aerial threats at much closer distances, and possibly even from above.

The development signifies a potential shift in air defense capabilities, moving beyond traditional missile systems to directed energy weapons. The integration of such technology onto aircraft could provide a more agile and responsive defense against a range of aerial threats, altering tactical approaches and the future landscape of aerial combat.

“

Lasers have existed to cut steel and other items for commercial purposes since the 1960s... but what made today's high-power laser systems possible was the much later development and widespread use of fiber lasers in industrial cutting and welding.