Military lasers are getting close. The consensus has been that around 100KW, they start being effective weapons. This one is 60KW. The ship-mounted XN-1 LaWS, from 2014, is 30KW.
The US had a 2.2MW continuous laser, the MIRACL, in the 1980s, but it was a chemical laser that used large quantities of deuterium fluoride, was building-sized, and broke down frequently. The newer lasers are solid-state devices.
The US had a 2.2MW continuous laser, the MIRACL, in the 1980s, but it was a chemical laser that used large quantities of deuterium fluoride, was building-sized, and broke down frequently. The newer lasers are solid-state devices.