Originally Posted by
rickair7777
But i doubt a fighter could carry the power and cooling required for a longer-range directed energy weapon. For BVR, it's still going to be missiles for a long time, maybe lasers can evolve from counter-measures to short-range dogfight weapons... you could probably fire them somewhat off boresight, so maybe more flexible than a gun while maneuvering.
Chemical lasers. You’d be amazed the power you can store in the right chemicals. You keeping abreast of the new small torpedoes under development?
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...avy-submarines
Exotic chemical combinations - in this case
a solid block of lithium that then gets bathed in sulfur hexafluoride gas - produce enormous power without the need for much electricity.
And for chemical lasers, heat is far less of an issue. For that matter they might be one-time use - like a missile.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/art...ns_110966.html