A laser weapon would be very fast.
“A laser weapon would be very fast.”
I know that we’re working on lasers for ships, tanks and aircraft, but at least the publicly available information is that none of them will be ready for prime time for 5-10 years. As far as shooting down an ICBM, I’d think that the time frame is even further away - you want to be SURE that your laser is very reliable, can make multiple shots and has a 90% or greater possibility of inflicting a kill on your target.
Contrary to the movies, or science fiction, we haven’t yet reached the stage of being able to reliably (95%+) shoot down ICBMs. Until and unless we get there (and I say “unless” because there are a variety of counter-measures that an enemy WILL take to decrease your odds of successfully downing their missile), we have to rely on the old fashioned virtues of deterrence.
lasers have to have on target time & ICBMs are going over 10000 mph and on to 18000 mph ... we likely do not have anything that can keep on a target at those speeds.