DOUBLED efficiency? That's remarkable!

One of these babies mounted on high ground would be the ultimate sniper system; one shot, one hole. You could burn any soft target you could see. Mount it in a big drone, or a B-52 even, and it's a complete game over for the enemy.

Re: RelayerM31
People die from blunt force trauma when shot, not from blood loss until later unless through vital impact.
30kw burning energy is effective to getting it from a flamethrower. But since this is a focused beam, the contact area would be small. THis is because the body is full of water that can absorb a fair amount of energy and has natural insulation. (think about those silly people that walk through hot coals)
So unless you get someone in the face or heart, they would likely end up with a hole about a fist deep, smelling like roast pork, and generally confused (because the instantaneous burn would remove feeling) But not disabled necessarily, and the adrenalin will likely keep him running for a bit.
The healing process would be a while, and without field triage, a cooked meat plug about a fist in diameter would eventually puss out. So if he survived the fevers he would be good to go in a few months.
The only reason missiles explode when hit by a beam is their fuel.

I think that what's more likely is that this will be developed in a military application to permanently blind as many enemy combatants as possible, as quickly as possible. If you can't see, you can't fight. Think back to 'War of the Worlds'.

Nairda, interesting explanation, but assuming as you said it is a fist sized "instantaneous" hole, would not the transformation of that amount or water predominate material create an explosive effect resulting in a traumatic wound site?

@ RelayerM31
If only we could expect there to be fair play in the matter, we could take some solace from the fact that blinding people during combat is a war crime. The problem would seem to be that in the next world war, the losing side will be too busy burying its dead to take any complaints of war crimes to The Hague, not least because killing off the other side's leaders will be a primary goal of a pre-emptive first-strike (look at the CEP of the Trident missile for instance).

Nairda, I'm guessing you've never been burned by super-heated steam or seen someone who has?
I have some experience in this area and based on the amount of energy that will be delivered on target by a >30 kW beam, I don't think it's at all likely to play out the way you described.

A fist sized hole in your head would be a problem. If it can burn that fist sized hole in 10ths of seconds than you could cover a opponent with fist sized holes in a second or so.
Also remember on a battle field if you take out one man by killing him that is just one man but if you badly injure an opponent you tie up several people on the battlefield to care for him and many people behind the lines to care for him. Blow several fist sized holes in many opponents and you overload the enemy's infrastructure to deal with massive numbers of wounded.
Then there is the psychological effect of having the guy next to you suddenly getting his face blown off silently and without any idea of where it came from! Might make you want to keep your head down, you think? You are not a very effective fighter if you have to hide from everything around you.
Also think about hitting the ammo or the fuel of a tank or other vehicle. Not streaking rocket. No screaming artillery shell just instant and unexplainable BOOM here and BOOM there. Pretty soon the other people in those types of fighting vehicles would be climbing out like ants. We have seen this effect with smart weapons. Remember the pictures of hundreds of Iraqis surrendering to one helicopter or even a few guys on foot? They knew they would die a horrible death if they did not. Not many soldiers will keep on fighting under those circumstances.
Imagine that beam coming through a helicopter packed with troops or just through the canopy at the pilot.
When these weapons are finally perfected it will change warfare forever.

Weapons. How boring! Let's develop this technology and power a new generation of ultralight spacecraft.

Re: Martin-tu For the countries that signed the convention, blinding combatants through energy weapons is not allowed. You can live without limbs, but blinding a soldier is still taboo. Try making friends again with that country after the war when it has 50,000 blind soldiers to look after
Re: hkmk23 Fist size hole from the effect. Beam is only fractions of an inch wide.
Re: Adam Thomas Flynn It would be a penetrating burn, like a phosphor burn. Would be curious on how you think it would play out?
Re: vblancer You are right. A sustained beam is a game changer for damage, and if its invisible a huge hit on the psychology of the enemy.