Why not laser canons?

>>34663494
Because we have a large inventory of Patriot missiles and only a handful of prototypes of LaWS.

>>34663494
Still in the prototyping phase.

Sure, lasers would make great anti-air weapons but they don't have much stopping power and bad weather kills what little power they have.

>>34663494

It's not mature enough yet. Although we are getting there.

>>34663494
It'll be interesting next year when the Royal Navy unveils its laser CIWS.

>>34663494
The 2nd or 3rd generation of this will completely replace SAMs. We will use both until it's perfected, and because we already have the missiles.

>>34663675
>The 2nd or 3rd generation of this will completely replace SAMs

not even close. What is the horizon? what are clouds? what is distance?

>>34663771
While there are ways around this, it is true that a mix of several complementary defense systems is better than a single specialized one.

>>34663675
Not completely, there's really no way of bypassing bad weather but you can counter SAMs with lasers.

Really, we might as well put lasers on cargo planes. Maybe route the coolant through the turbine intakes. Call it an FC-130?

>>34663522
>>34663523
/thread

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the real question is when Laser F-35