[Ford Fairlane]

I'm not sure how fast the new ones can shoot - if they are fixed and hooked to a large power supply it is probably not very long. The Navy was testing Lasers & Railguns about 10 years ago and they both took about the same amount of time to recharge the capacitors. Smaller units, such as those that could eventually replace the Phalanx system have multiple banks of capacitors so they can fire nearly continuously, but they really require a nuclear power supply. At one time the Army (I think) had a M-60 tank with a laser mounted on it that took about 30 minutes to recharge. I think that was in the 70's.

[Ford Fairlane]

The reason the THEL cost so much per shot is that is has to use a chemical reaction to get the energy, because if a conventional power supply big enough to operate it was installed on the aircraft, it would be too heavy to get off the ground.