[Thristle]

A laser powered solution was POCed, tried and found to be unsatisfactory.

While laser based solutions today are much better than when it was tested, but in the end ID was chosen when the AD project started

[dogma1138]

Lasers also don’t scale, even a single iron dome battery seems to be able to deal with rather large salvos because it can fire most of not all of its interceptors within the interception window.

You will need many more laser based weapons than missile batteries for similar coverage.

[suifbwish]

Thinking on it more the other problem is there is lasers deal no kinetic force thus a shell with reflective shielding might prove impervious to a pure light defense

[dragonwriter]

> lasers deal no kinetic force

That’s...not true. (Well, “kinetic force” seems like a poorly chosen phrase, but lasers deliver both force and kinetic energy.)

> a shell with reflective shielding might prove impervious to a pure light defense

Good luck with making a mirror perfect enough to do that and keeping it in condition on a fited shell.