The new Ford class carriers have a nuclear reactor in them that outputs about 2x as much power as the ship actually needs. If/when these are ready for prime time, prepare or some raves on the flight deck!
$0.23 for a round of 5.56, $0.76 for a round of 7.62. Ish.
Keep in mind, too, that lasers fire in about as straight a line as you can hope for, while bullets do not. It's going to take a lot more bullets fired to neutralize a target than laser "rounds" fired.
I was thinking about potential for inaccuracy due to refraction from thermal inversion layers or other temperature anomalies, but then I realized that the refraction would equally affect the optics, provided that the optics remain on target throughout the firing.
If I was designing a laser weapons system, I would probably include a targeting laser that would be of the same wavelength, and use that to automatically correct any alignment. A targeting laser, or series of lasers would require extremely tiny amounts of power compared to firing the laser weapon.
Yeah... those figures might be outdated. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 5.56 basically the same as a
.223? If so Cabellas has them in a price range of $.60-$2.20/pc. Not that the price difference is what I'm correcting. What I intended to point out was that just because you can get ammo for $.23 doesn't mean your actual cost is guna be $.23/pc. In my experience with cheap ammo you're guna have at least 1 jammed per magazine on your best days. Unlike most things, you get what you pay for with ammo. I have 3 types of ammo for my AR. 1 cheap bulk box for making it rain lead at the range. 1 mid ranged box for actual use shooting coyotes, beavers and Coons. And the last ammo type are closer to the $2.20/pc price for when there is ever a scenario where I need to send 2 bullets through the same bullet hole from 500yds out. Lol half kidding but for real the bullet to bullet consistency for weight and concentricity of the $2.20 priced ammo to the .60 priced ammo is clear as day.
Read the link. Those were rough prices for the military, and the poster admits that the prices are a little out of date. He's not referring to what you'd pay at a sporting goods store.