Light Blade
Light Blade (Lahav Or) is a laser-based air defense system intended to intercept airborne devices such as incendiary balloons, incendiary kites, and miniature UAVs such as quadcopters, and RAM (rocket, artillery, and mortar) threats. When first deployed in 2020, it was the first laser air defense system in the world.
Also recorded as Lahav Or
Light Blade

מינוזיג - MinoZig · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Light Blade
- Field
- laser weapon · air defense weapon
- Region
- Israel
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Light Blade (Lahav Or) is a laser-based air defense system intended to intercept airborne devices such as incendiary balloons, incendiary kites, and miniature UAVs such as quadcopters, and RAM (rocket, artillery, and mortar) threats. When first deployed in 2020, it was the first laser air defense system in the world.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Light Blade. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q86007590 · wikipedia · Light Blade
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Light Blade • Origin — Israel • Type — Laser air defense system • Is Missile — no • Used By — Israel Border Police • Wars — * Gaza–Israel conflict • Designer — OptiDefense • Design Date — 2010–2015 • Manufacturer — OptiDefense • Illustration — Helium balloons bearing flammable materials launched from Bureij in the Gaza Strip
Development
Development
Development was driven by the need for a cheaper missile defense alternative to the Iron Dome. The system is based on research involving engineers from Ben-Gurion University, the Israel Police, and the Research and Development Directorate of the Israel Defense Forces. Israel Border Police commission Yaakov Shabtai oversaw the system's development. It was officially revealed in 2019, with a claimed effective range of 2 km. Cost per interception is approximately US$3.50; cost per interception by Iron Dome was estimated at $100,000–150,000 in 2020.
Operational history
Operational history
Light Blade was deployed operationally for the first time in August 2020 by Israel Border Police in response to the launch of incendiary devices, such as explosive-laden balloons from parts of the Gaza Strip, that caused brush fires in southern Israel. The Sky Spotter system had been developed to spot and track balloons and kites and direct firefighters to their landing spots without delay, but there had been no way to intercept balloons. Light Blade succeeded with almost 100% of interceptions, but because of its short range balloons sent by Hamas from other areas of the Gaza Strip were not intercepted.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Israel
Named but not plotted · 1
Light Blade is associated with Israel.
Country
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Militaria
6,095 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- LGM-30 MinutemanTerminology
- LiberatorTerminology
- licorneTerminology
- Light Artillery Rocket SystemTerminology
- light gas gunTerminology
- light machine gunTerminology
- light-weight combat vehicle systemTerminology
- lightsaberTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Light Blade?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.