 London plans to introduce this new weapon into its army by 2027. But its prototypes may end up in Ukraine even earlier, said British defence minister Grant Schaffs. The Telegraph Midoya outlet reported this. Currently there is a living conflict in Europe, to resolve which we have unique modern weapons that may be useful, Schaffs added.A feature of Dragonfire is its low cost, the stated cost is £10 per shot. I've come down to speed up the production of the Dragonfire laser system because I think given that there's two big conflicts on, one sea-based, one in Europe, this could have huge ramifications to have a weapon capable particularly of taking down drones, Schaffs said at the Porton Down Military Research Hub in Salisbury. And so what I want to do is speed up what would usually be a very lengthy development procurement process, possibly up to 10 years, based on my conversations this morning, to a much shorter timeframe to get it deployed, potentially on ships, incoming drones, and potentially on land. Again, incoming drones, but it doesn't take much imagination to see how that could be helpful in Ukraine for example, he added.Laser directed energy weapons use an intense beam of light to cut through their target. Pentagon chief advises Ukraine to attack other targets instead of oil refineries in Russia. US defence secretary Lloyd Austin believes that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries could have consequences for the global energy situation. He considers that it is better to attack other targets, according to Bloomberg. Those attacks could have a knock-on effect in terms of the global energy situation, said Austin during the Senate Armed Services Committee meeting. Ukraine is better served in going after tactical and operational targets that can directly influence the current fight. This statement was immediately criticised by Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who stated that the administration of US President Joe Biden is hindering Ukraine's active actions for political reasons. It sounds to me that the Biden administration doesn't want gas prices to go up in an election year. Cotton said, Austin's testimony is further confirmation of reports that the US had asked Ukraine to stop with the refinery attacks. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said that Washington's reaction was not positive. However, there is no sign that Kiev is willing to obey Washington on this issue. Earlier this week, Ukraine's military intelligence announced that strikes on oil refineries in Russia would expand. Recently, explosions at Russian oil refineries have become increasingly frequent. Russians complain about drone attacks. As repeatedly reported, Ukrainian defenders are behind these strikes. They have already attacked refineries in several regions, including Tatarstan, which is over a thousand kilometers from Ukraine's border. A NATO representative in a comment to journalists revealed that such attacks could disable over 15% of Russia's oil refining capacity. He also clarified that repairing Russian refineries after strikes could take significant time. Using captured German leopard tanks and US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Russia is developing new anti-tank ammunition. Army Recognition Media outlet reports this. It is noted that by studying these war trophies, Russia's state arms manufacturer, Rostec, has announced the development of a new line of upgraded tank shells based on the analysis of captured Western armored vehicles. Russia preparing also a hypothetical escalation in the Ukrainian theater. Bekhan Osdoev, the industrial director of the Russian state corporation Rostec, overseeing conventional weapons, ammunition and special chemistry, announced that the company is developing a new range of upgraded tank shells based on an extensive study of captured Western armored vehicles as reported by TASS. He further stated that Rostec would produce new ammunition whenever Russia's adversaries develop new tanks with improved protection. Rostec will create new ammunition, multiplying their efforts by zero. This development follows Russia's success in destroying three US origin Ukrainian Abrams tanks in under a week last month. One of these tanks was disabled by a single shot from a Russian T-72B3. The Russians argue that this validates their theory that these Western tanks are merely empty tin cans. While Moscow's forces haven't captured any Abrams tanks yet, footage released last year showed captured German origin Leopard 2 tanks and US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, according to Army Recognition. Military analysts noted that the captured adversary platforms are used for reverse engineering and studying military secrets. As Rostec's chief noted, capturing cutting-edge war machines from the west enables Russians to develop tank shells capable of piercing through these tanks and armored vehicles when deployed by adversaries. However, since decoding rival defence technology takes years, there's a good chance it will take several years before these shells are ready for Russian forces. In addition to efforts to develop tank shells that could neutralise Western origin vehicles, Russia has been working on controlled detonation shells for its terminator BMPT tank support vehicle. Rostec State Corporation has completed tests of controlled detonation shells and a remote control system for their detonation time for the terminator BMPT, said Bekan Ozdoev.