A ship based directed energy weapon? How is this worth the cost of development? Naval battles are a thing of the past, these are the days of air superiority so ship to ship can't be the goal...and unless a ship can arch its weapons overland to support ground troops then what good will it be? Energy weapons have horrible range and shoot in straight lines.
What better place for a line-of-sight weapon than the ocean? There are no trees, no hills, no buildings, and no obstructions. Fit one of these on a quick, fast stealth boat and use it to sink whole air-craft carriers (lots of assumptions on size and power...). Naval battles may have been a "thing of the past." Something like this makes them relevant again.
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A ship based directed energy weapon? How is this worth the cost of development? Naval battles are a thing of the past, these are the days of air superiority so ship to ship can't be the goal...and unless a ship can arch its weapons overland to support ground troops then what good will it be? Energy weapons have horrible range and shoot in straight lines.
Thats what the giant space mirrors are for... duh
Last time I looked the Navy still had planes
What better place for a line-of-sight weapon than the ocean? There are no trees, no hills, no buildings, and no obstructions. Fit one of these on a quick, fast stealth boat and use it to sink whole air-craft carriers (lots of assumptions on size and power...). Naval battles may have been a "thing of the past." Something like this makes them relevant again.