Will there laser weaponary in the near future?

Answer 1

That sort of depends on your definitions of "laser weaponry" and "near future." Lasers are already seeing use as anti-missile, defensive systems mounted on vehicles from as small as a humvee to as large as an airplane.

I am thinking perhaps you are referring to man-portable offensive "blasters" ala your favorite sci-fi movie. The answer to that is no, not in the near future anyway. Lasers have a number of problems to overcome first. Problem one is power. To build a laser capable of sustained fire of sufficient strength to be an immediate lethal threat requires a tremendous amount of energy. Now, we have the means to create that much energy but not in a particularly portable form. Problem two is cost. Even before you factor in the research and development costs you are still talking a tremendously expensive proposition. The reality is that at this time we can produce much more effective projectile weapons for much less cost. Problem three is versatility. The advantage of lasers are that they are precise and (given enough power) have a long effective range that is not as effected by climactic conditions. The disadvantage is that they pretty much just shoot in a straight line. With an old fashioned projectile weapon you can do all sorts of entertaining and interesting things. Everything from armor-piercing to air burst to chemical dispersement, and beyond. Mount some verniers or even just a front end that can change its angle relative to the body of the projectile and you have smart bullets that can adjust to strike moving targets or even follow a target around a corner to kill him and his buddies with an air burst of lethal, armor piercing flechettes.

Directed energy weapons in the hands of infantrymen are probably still a ways off. The first generations that you do see will be crew-served anti-vehicle weapons. If I were going to guess the first versions that are man-portable will probably be magnetic rail guns firing metal projectiles that are converted to super-heated plasma upon impact but that is just a guess. The first battlefield lasers will probably be relatively low-powered weapons designed to fry sensitive optical systems like cameras and human eyeballs.

Answer 2

Laser weaponry is already being developed and these will be used by US in Iran and North Korea for testing.

Answer 3

Yes. There's an airborne laser being developed by the U.S. military that's being designed to shoot down missiles in the early launch stages.

There's a good article about it right here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_laser

Laser powered assault rifles, and lasers that shoot down planes and destroy tanks are still far from being developed.

Answer 4

yes they have been in use. here are a couple prototypes in the sources list. and the
"Yes, right after Skynet becomes self-aware and the cyborgs begin their attack against the human race." comment was pretty clever.

Answer 5

Yes, right after Skynet becomes self-aware and the cyborgs begin their attack against the human race.

Answer 6

>Too late. Already in use.<