plasma and laser weaponry

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Doesn't the F-22 have a laser? It's only for blinding, but still...

An F-22 could carry a laser of a Kw or so, that could do some damage like blinding as you mentioned, but you would not have much time for firing, even if you were coming straight on to a target, like if it was idling at 500 Km/hr time flies pretty fast and then you are over the target and gone and would have to turn around and come back for another shot so at the Kw level it would leave a lot to be desired as a military weapon. That's why you need megawatts to do real damage in a second or two.