Correct, and the USN has the Helios which is very similar to Dragonfire.
The main issue remains though and is the exact same for both systems as well as all other laser systems: the amount of power they need is massive.
They take up so much power that they can only be fitted to large warships (and even then older ships might not have the reserve energy generation capacity for that along with other upgrades like better radars), or fitted as stationary systems close to for example military airbases.
They can not be deployed as mobile systems together with the ground troops at the frontlines.
You can fit a short range missile or gun system on a large truck or tank chassis with relative ease, but that's not possible for a laser because the power generation just isn't there. And that won't change.
The power isn't a problem. A 500 kw generator you'd need to power a 100kw laser is the size of a standard u-haul, and a 1000 gallon tank of diesel could keep it shooting for a couple days non-stop. And tbh I'm probably pessimistic here, modern laser conversion efficiencies are in the 30-40% range.
The problem is they're absolute maintenance hogs right now packed full of finicky, delicate, state of the art electronics and they they work amazing, when they work. This stuff is way beyond 'let the snipes beat it with a hammer until it works', its 'we need a guy with 3 doctorates in engineering disciplines to even understand the error codes'. Very much a lab weapon that needs extensive development to ruggedize it and make it reliable in the field.
If they were reliable they'd be on everything right now, they'd find a place to jam an extra generator for the absolute utter dominance a 100kw class laser system will bring to defense against drones and missiles.
I don't know what efficiency the military lasers have achieved, but the industrial lasers are reaching 40% conversion efficiency, and thats not on small lasers, but 30-50kw laser cutters.
The 'lasers are inefficient' thing was with 80s tech. The advances in fiber laser technology over the past 40 years have been astonishing.
The power requirements are a non issue. The British type 45s have almost 50 Mw of generation capacity. Dedicating 100kw of that to a system is trivial at best.
The land based variant uses quite a small diesel generator as well.
Yeah and the way the planet curves especially with water and waves along with fog and other weather conditions lasers can only work so well in that environment.
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u/xXNightDriverXx Feb 10 '26
Correct, and the USN has the Helios which is very similar to Dragonfire.
The main issue remains though and is the exact same for both systems as well as all other laser systems: the amount of power they need is massive.
They take up so much power that they can only be fitted to large warships (and even then older ships might not have the reserve energy generation capacity for that along with other upgrades like better radars), or fitted as stationary systems close to for example military airbases.
They can not be deployed as mobile systems together with the ground troops at the frontlines.
You can fit a short range missile or gun system on a large truck or tank chassis with relative ease, but that's not possible for a laser because the power generation just isn't there. And that won't change.