Next, powerguns

And when we have the powerplants, hovertanks.  With David Drake being made a saint of the House of Armor.
This week, the Pentagon confirmed that U.S. forces have been using laser weapons in the Strait of Hormuz to shoot down incoming drones and missiles fired by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other terrorist groups in the region. Nor is this futuristic weapon, 50 years in the making, limited to the Middle East. It has also been deployed along the southern border, where it is being used to combat Mexican drug cartels.

Until then, I think it was Commander Salamander who pointed out one ship that'd been doing marvelous duty shooting down both drones and ballistic missiles in the Gulf was getting yeoman service out of that 5" gun on the deck.  Enough so that he was pushing more guns on navy ships: relatively cheap ammo, wide service, and very reliable.  So, until enough lasers, and then powerguns...