It seems like the range downside due to diffraction and atmospheric dispersion of most lasers rules them out way before ablative armor becomes relevant. I could

It seems like the range downside due to diffraction and atmospheric dispersion of most lasers rules them out way before ablative armor becomes relevant. I could imagine close-in missle defense being some kind of exception, but if you can only cover a small area, then the 'high upfront cost, low cost per shot' tradeof stops being a good tradeof. As for anti radiation missles. The 'directed' part of a directed energy weapon should make that much harder. Besides, a laser like this probably isn't firing constantly, whilst a radar station is emmiting constantly.