A defence system that uses powerful lasers to eliminate missile threats on the battlefield has been trialled by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The laser is being designed to be fitted a range of RAF aircraft, including the intelligence-gathering Shadow R2 and A400M transporter.

During the trial, at the Vidsel Test Range in Sweden, the operational system defeated a range of infrared heat-seeking missiles being fired simultaneously. The MoD said it was able to take down all of the missiles during the trial “with pinpoint accuracy”.

The system uses Thales’s Elix-IR threat-warning system to identify the launch of missiles, using a series of algorithms to filter out background clutter so that only valid threats are tracked.

Once detected, an alert is sent to the Miysis system – developed by defence firm Leonardo – which moves to track the incoming missile and directs a jamming laser onto it. The live tests were witnessed by senior military officers from a number of Nato nations.

“Identifying...