Continious laser weapons look pretty cool, but they have no future in the battle with real enemy, since they are fundamentally self-laser-tagged targets.
Pulsed chemical laser weapons, where laser medium pumped with powerful chemical reaction (basically blast) could have some use, but still, they are also easily targeted.
Any part of laser beam spotted from two different points instantly reveal precise target position. Very simple math and very precise coordinates for instant strike with least possible effort.
So, it is unuseable on the battlefield. Probably, could be used for defence from some low-tech enemy with few drones without any serious strike capability.
Continous laser need some significant time to heat the target to destruction temperature. System should track target all way during "shot". While doing that, other targets could do the job. Either you need multiple laser systems, either system should be able to fire multiple beams with independent target tracking.
Also, laser is easy to deflect. White, mirror or light-return paint will significantly increase already significant time needed for beam to heat target surface to destruction temperatures. And even could damage laser weapon targeting/observation optics/cameras.
From the "sci-fi weaponry", railgun f.e. looks much better. No need to track target with beam for some significant time. Shoot and forget, switch to next target. And even railgun lose to regular missile based AD, that could fire missiles simultaneously to all detected targets and missiles able to track targets by themselves.
As for defence in general - some force shields would be real breakthrough. Meanwhile, Alcubierre drive warp bubble should have that feature, regardless of if it stationary or moving with any speed including FTL. Warp bubble surface is space-time distortion with high curvature that will completely destroy any possible matter trying to cross it. And it will destroy matter on atomic level, so no material will sustain that. Only possible workaround is a projectile with its own warp-drive. Possibly, if metric inside target and aroung projectile are equal, projectile will be able to soak inside target warp bubble. But that's just an assumption, not even mathematically checked AFAIK.
Continious laser weapons look pretty cool, but they have no future in the battle with real enemy, since they are fundamentally self-laser-tagged targets.
Pulsed chemical laser weapons, where laser medium pumped with powerful chemical reaction (basically blast) could have some use, but still, they are also easily targeted.
Any part of laser beam spotted from two different points instantly reveal precise target position. Very simple math and very precise coordinates for instant strike with least possible effort.
So, it is unuseable on the battlefield. Probably, could be used for defence from some low-tech enemy with few drones without any serious strike capability.
Continous laser need some significant time to heat the target to destruction temperature. System should track target all way during "shot". While doing that, other targets could do the job. Either you need multiple laser systems, either system should be able to fire multiple beams with independent target tracking.
Also, laser is easy to deflect. White, mirror or light-return paint will significantly increase already significant time needed for beam to heat target surface to destruction temperatures. And even could damage laser weapon targeting/observation optics/cameras.
From the "sci-fi weaponry", railgun f.e. looks much better. No need to track target with beam for some significant time. Shoot and forget, switch to next target. And even railgun lose to regular missile based AD, that could fire missiles simultaneously to all detected targets and missiles able to track targets by themselves.
As for defence in general - some force shields would be real breakthrough. Meanwhile, Alcubierre drive warp bubble should have that feature, regardless of if it stationary or moving with any speed including FTL. Warp bubble surface is space-time distortion with high curvature that will completely destroy any possible matter trying to cross it. And it will destroy matter on atomic level, so no material will sustain that. Only possible workaround is a projectile with its own warp-drive. Possibly, if metric inside target and aroung projectile are equal, projectile will be able to soak inside target warp bubble. But that's just an assumption, not even mathematically checked AFAIK.