Beam gun

A beam gun is a type of light beam weapon. It is a less-powerful cousin of the beam laser, and operates on an identical principle, though on a much smaller scale. Beam guns fire a large amount of pulsed energy beams rather than a singular beam as in the case of the beam laser, preserving energy reserves. Due to their larger shot spread and lower energy yield, beam guns are used primarily for anti-spacecraft duties as well as missile interdiction.

Despite their vastly reduced energy requirements compared to beam lasers, beam guns still need a large amount of power to operate.