[cli]

I think that demonstration was to show that the laser system can be useful against very cheap home-made mortars and rockets. The military would rather use a laser that costs tens or hundreds of dollars per shot to defend against mortars that cost perhaps several hundred dollars, rather than the current conventional methods that cost tens of thousands of dollars per shot.

[jessaustin]

The military would rather use a laser that costs tens or hundreds of dollars per shot... than the current conventional methods that cost tens of thousands of dollars per shot.

Wait, I thought we were talking about the USA military? When have their weapons systems ever gotten cheaper? The only time they buy something cheap is when there is no more expensive option that does the same thing available (e.g. drones). If the only consideration is cost/shot, lasers will never be deployed. The point of TFA is that the new systems do things that haven't been done before, like stopping a mortar round in flight.