Q&A ยท 27:54-28:17

Lasers, railguns, and the cost of attacking warships

Effective lasers and railguns could make aircraft and missile attacks much less economical, if the technologies become reliable.

Question

Could lasers and railguns make aircraft and missiles ineffective against warships?

Short answer

They could sharply reduce their utility by improving defensive exchange ratios, but only if practical laser and railgun systems can be made to work.

Notes

The key change would be the exchange ratio: defensive shots could become cheaper than incoming aircraft or missiles. The operational obstacle is making both weapon types work reliably at sea. Lasers face weather and thermal-bloom limits, while railguns need demanding power generation, capacitors, sensors, and fire control. Designers are trying to keep the concept below 35,000 tons despite the weight of those components. Even a successful railgun-and-laser ship would probably retain missiles for missions those weapons could not cover.