The Achilles heel of such weapons are obscurants, such as smoke. They turn a laser beam into an expensive flashlight.
Most modern armies have an impressive obscurant capability, but the US military dislikes obscurants at the same time, because they are inexpensive, low technology, and remove clarity from the battlefield. A few smudge pots can neutralize billions of dollars worth of intelligence gathering equipment.
Unfortunately, because of this, training with obscurants is minimal. And when they are used, battlefield skills like maneuver, ambush, and infiltration are maximized. And this can unnerve even the most disciplined military unit.
This limits the practical use of laser weapons in the future, and they must always be covered by projectile weapons capable of maintaining the whole battle by themselves.
good analysis !
That depends on the laser’s wavelength in relation to the size of the particles in the smoke. The longer the wavelength, the larger the particles must be to affect the light. IIRC, Saddam’s attempt to use smoke to hide his troop movements during the war failed because our satellites and surveillance aircraft all used long-wavelength IR sensors that were able to peer through the smoke. He couldn’t see us, but we could see him. Had a long-wavelength IR laser weapon been available at the time, it would have been more than capable of shooting through the smoke.