MOSCOW, Dec 2 - RIA Novosti. The Russian laser complex "Peresvet" is primarily designed to disable satellites, military expert Dmitry Kornev said in an interview with Izvestia.
The analyst called the combat laser one of the echelons of the country's anti-space defense and attributed it to an anti-satellite weapon with a functional defeat.
According to the expert, the laser is capable of hitting atmospheric aircraft: "burning out" the equipment of reconnaissance aircraft and drones, as well as destroying them at short range in the future.
In turn, military expert Vladislav Shurygin suggested that the "Peresvet" is designed to blind the enemy's intelligence assets in the threatened period before the nuclear conflict. The interlocutor of the newspaper noted that this would guarantee the inevitability of a retaliatory strike by Russia.
For the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the latest types of Russian strategic weapons, including the Peresvet combat laser, in a message to the Federal Assembly in March 2018. At the beginning of November this year, the head of state stressed that the tests confirmed the unique characteristics of the laser installation.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported that the installations of the Peresvet complex have been on experimental combat duty since December 2018. As part of the marathon "New Knowledge", the military commander compared them to lightsabers, which are shown in the fantastic space saga "Star Wars".
Since December 2019, Russia has been using "Peresvet" to cover mobile missile systems.