The problem: range is very (i would say extremely) low and bad weather make it useless...
On the other hand a terrestrial ray, with a real power of ~~~10 millions KW ??? Could be interesting
Because the highter it is, the easier it is to continue
Weather problem still not resolved anyway.
So it's good for super short distances, to destroy mini-drones spying the ship, as example.
It cannot stop missiles coming vertically at hyper sonic speed