The drone hangs motionless in a pale winter sky, then suddenly erupts into flame and tumbles earthward. There is no crack of gunfire, no roar of missiles and no visible beam, only the quiet whir of a camera tracking its target from what looks like a telescope bolted to the bed of a pickup truck. For Ukraine, locked in a grinding contest of drones and air defenses, the silent vaporizing power shown in that “Sunray” laser demo hints at a new way to fight back.
The prototype’s appearance is deceptively simple: a long tube, like an amateur observatory scope, bristling with cameras and sensors, swiveling atop a truck as if it were just another field telescope. Yet the promise behind that video goes to the heart of Ukraine’s struggle to keep Russian drones from overwhelming its skies, and it points toward a future in which invisible light, not exploding shrapnel, could shoulder more of the defensive burden.
The Sunray Prototype: Origins and Design
The system Ukrainians are calling “Sunray” emerged from a roughly two year effort by Ukrainian military engineers to create a low cost laser weapon tailored to the country’s drone war. Reporting on the project describes a prototype that resembles a large amateur telescope, with a camera-equipped tube mounted on a pickup truck so it can be driven close to threatened sites. According to that account, the developers focused on using relatively inexpensive components and off the shelf optics to keep the system affordable enough for mass deployment if it proves effective.
Ukrainian officers have started to talk more openly about such weapons. At a defense industry conference, Col. Vadym Sukharevsky appeared in his capacity as Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine and presented a laser system referred to as “Tryzub,” or “Trident.” Interfax reporting on that event describes Sukharevsky’s presentation of a camera-laden tube that again evokes a field telescope, suggesting a common design philosophy for Ukraine’s emerging family of laser defenses. In both cases, the hardware is described as operating silently and without a visible beam, relying on invisible light to heat and destroy targets while cameras handle detection and aiming.
Demo Performance and Claimed Capabilities
The Sunray demo video that has circulated publicly shows a small drone hovering at an undisclosed distance before its body suddenly catches fire, apparently after being held in the laser’s aim for only a few seconds. The footage, highlighted in coverage of the Ukrainian Sunray system, does not disclose exact ranges or power levels, but it visually reinforces the core claim that the weapon can disable a quadcopter-class target without noise, recoil or visible tracer fire. Analysts who have reviewed the clip caution that a single staged engagement does not prove battlefield reliability, yet it offers rare visual evidence that such a system exists and can at least burn through a drone’s frame or battery.
More detailed performance figures have been attached to the “Tryzub” laser that Col. Sukharevsky discussed at a defense conference. According to lb.ua’s account, Ukrainian military representatives there claimed their laser weapon could hit drones and ground targets at distances up to 5 km and engage strike drones, guided bombs and certain ballistic threats at around 3 km. The same report attributes to the Ukrainian side a claim that aircraft and helicopters could be targeted at ranges up to 5 km, and that the system could blind optical equipment at distances as far as 10 km. Those numbers are still claims rather than independently verified test data, but they frame how Ukrainian planners are thinking about the potential envelope for laser defenses that include Sunray.
Strategic Role in Ukraine’s Air Defense
The emergence of Sunray comes as Ukraine builds out a dedicated Unmanned Systems Forces branch under Col. Vadym Sukharevsky, who has become the public face of its drone and counter drone strategy. In an interview cited by a primary account of his remarks, Sukharevsky confirmed that Ukraine has laser weapons and recalled that in December 2024 he publicly described a laser weapon called “Trident.” In that earlier disclosure, he said such a system could engage aircraft at altitudes over 2 km, a statement that sets a benchmark for how Ukrainian commanders imagine lasers fitting into layered air defense rather than only swatting low hovering quadcopters.
The same interview presents Sukharevsky speaking as Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine about integrating laser weapons into a broader mix of tools to counter Russian drones. Against swarms of low cost attack drones, conventional surface to air missiles can be too expensive and too scarce, while small arms and electronic warfare have their own limits. By adding a silent, optically guided weapon that can theoretically engage targets at several kilometers without expending physical munitions, the Unmanned Systems Forces hopes to stretch Ukraine’s air defense coverage. Sunray and related systems are thus being positioned not as silver bullets but as one more layer in an evolving network of sensors, jammers and guns overseen by Sukharevsky’s command.
Broader EU-Ukraine Defense Cooperation
Scaling any laser system from prototype to a fleet guarding critical infrastructure will require money, industrial capacity and exportable standards, which is where European Union initiatives come into play. The EU has launched a series of EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum meetings that explicitly aim to bolster cooperation between Ukrainian and European defense companies. Official EU statements on that process link it to the European Defence Industrial Strategy, or EDIS, and describe goals such as joint procurement, joint ventures and the creation of an innovation office in Kyiv that could help Ukrainian projects like Sunray find partners, funding and pathways into wider European supply chains.
Alongside the forum series, Brussels and Kyiv have set up a more formal framework for industrial cooperation. Primary EU documentation on the EU-Ukraine task force on defence industrial cooperation describes objectives that include industrial integration, structured exchanges on production capacity and lessons learned, and Ukrainian participation in EU defence programs. That task force held its first meeting on May 14, 2025, and EU officials framed it as a way to match Ukraine’s rapid wartime innovation, including in counter drone technologies, with European funding, standards and long term orders. In that context, a working laser like Sunray is not just a battlefield experiment but a potential candidate for co-production or standardization if it can meet European requirements.
Funding, Legislation and the External Support Ecosystem
European political backing for deeper defense industrial ties with Ukraine has been backed by legislative and budget decisions. A major wire service account of recent EU action describes how lawmakers approved measures and program funding that are explicitly tied to strengthening defence-industry ties with Ukraine, including budget figures earmarked for joint projects and procurement. That reporting highlights a specific vote tally and program amounts, signaling that the political center of gravity inside EU institutions has shifted toward long term support for Ukrainian defence manufacturing rather than only short term aid.
Those programs create the external ecosystem in which Ukrainian air-defense innovations such as Sunray or Tryzub could be financed, tested and eventually bought at scale. If Ukrainian engineers can demonstrate that their low cost laser designs perform reliably, they will be operating inside a policy environment already primed for joint procurement and industrial integration. Conversely, if the technology falls short, the same EU mechanisms could steer resources toward alternative counter drone tools emerging from Ukraine’s crowded innovation scene.
Challenges and Uncertainties Ahead
Despite the striking demo footage and ambitious performance claims, large gaps remain in public knowledge about Sunray’s true capabilities and readiness. There is no detailed open record yet on how the system performs in bad weather, against maneuvering targets, or under electronic warfare conditions that might disrupt its sensors. Nor is there confirmed information on how many units have been built or when full scale production might begin, beyond the rough two year development window mentioned in reporting on the prototype. That leaves analysts relying on single test clips and conference presentations rather than systematic firing tables or combat after action reports.
European officials themselves have signaled that technology like Sunray will need sustained investment and closer industrial linkages to mature. In opening remarks at an EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum, a senior EU representative, speaking on behalf of the European External Action Service, urged companies to link their capabilities and emphasized boosting Ukraine’s industrial capacity through technology and funding. A related EEAS account of the same forum invites firms to form partnerships that can turn battlefield prototypes into exportable products, implicitly acknowledging that systems like Sunray are still early in their lifecycle. Until Ukraine can show how its lasers perform against more advanced Russian drones in real combat, and until EU-backed industrial frameworks translate political intent into factory output, Sunray will remain a symbol of promise and uncertainty at the cutting edge of Ukraine’s air defense.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
