Russia’s “Cane” laser anti-drone rifle drew intense interest at a recent conference in St. Petersburg. According to Russian media, the weapon can engage small UAVs out to 500 m. Designers stress that the Cane is simple to use, completely recoil-free and places minimal physical demands on the operator. The laser’s “point-and-shoot” effect means the target has no time to evade; the beam can even detonate the drone’s warhead in mid-air, reducing collateral damage when the wreckage falls.
The rifle’s hallmark is “silent kill.” The beam is invisible to the naked eye, produces no muzzle flash, generates no radar emissions and keeps acoustic output below 40 dB. Enemy operators “often see their FPV screen go black without ever knowing who hit them,” the report notes. Purpose-built to counter first-person-view (FPV) drones, the Cane locks on precisely and destroys by burning out critical avionics, rendering the aircraft inoperable.
The Cane is the only handheld laser anti-UAV rifle publicly shown in Russia and remains in trials, optimized for close-range engagement of small drones. With cheap commercial drones now common on the battlefield, traditional missiles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars are a poor match for $500 quadcopters. Many nations therefore see low-cost directed-energy weapons as an economical alternative. The primary damage mechanism is thermal ablation: typical airframe skins melt around 600 °C, a threshold a modest laser can surpass in seconds, incinerating wiring or payloads. Against loitering munitions, the beam can ignite the onboard explosive outright.
Russian sources claim the new weapon has already proved itself as an effective man-portable counter-UAV system and will receive unprecedented attention.
Summary
As Russia’s first publicly displayed handheld laser counter-drone weapon, the Cane—though still experimental—has sparked wide interest. Against proliferating low-cost micro-UAVs, conventional missiles are fiscally unsustainable; the laser’s high efficiency and low cost offer a compelling alternative. By ablating airframes and detonating warheads in seconds, the Cane promises a potent response. Yet practical hurdles remain: battery endurance, heat management and the ability to counter drone swarms must be resolved before widespread adoption. If reliability and persistence in real combat can be assured, the Cane could redefine handheld counter-UAV capabilities and become a cornerstone of future force protection.
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