If lasers are to be part of the weaponry of fighters why are we dealing with airplanes at all? They should perhaps be developing nuclear powered satellite and space-plane vehicles.
Why no space weapons?
For the same reason the Federation doesn’t have cloaking devices: they traded it away in a silly treaty.
Except. In Star Trek that’s a plot device because two cloaked warships wouldn’t be fun to watch in a space drama.
The US gov’t can’t even blame it’s stupidity on a plot device...