Air Force fighters will carry laser cannons, cyber weapons by 2020
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/air-force-fighters-will-carry-laser-cannons-cyber-weapons-by-2020/
Generals see laser pods, software-configurable bombs, and "operational cyber" in near future.
"Sometime very soon, combat aircraft may be zapping threats out of the sky with laser weapons. "I believe we'll have a directed energy pod we can put on a fighter plane very soon," Air Force General Hawk Carlisle said at this week's Air Force Association Air & Space conference in a presentation on what he called Fifth-Generation Warfare. "That day is a lot closer than I think a lot of people think it is."
Undoubtedly this will happen in time.
However, it sounds a lot like what the generals and admirals said about cannons. Before Vietnam the F4 was designed without any guns because they were superfluous.
General Hawk, lol.
From G.I Joe. Ha ha.
*sigh*
I guess lasers are cool too.