Lasers from space would be a pretty dope development for a time. But I also feel like in orbit there's nowhere to hide.
Once multiple countries possess lasers with that range and precision they'd probably want them in space, but in the event of a conflict or preemptive strike it would be easier to identify and target those objects in orbit from the ground than it would be to guarantee you've hit every ground target from orbit. Also, it would be logistically much easier to set up ground-air. So whilst only a few countries like the US might have the ability to set up a system in space, many countries could possess ground-air capabilities at undisclosed locations whilst the location of lasers in orbit would be much more visible.
The first step in a conflict would then be lasering these items out of orbit, then straight back to the old meta.
That's why we're going to laser 'em before they can do that. Also once American private space companies become the norm for putting shit in orbit (like, a year from now or something), it's going to get way cheaper to do so and we'll stop using Russian rockets for NASA shit. At that point we could sneak cute little orbital lasers into space whenever we want mostly unbeknownst to Russia, China, Iran, Canada, and other pariah states.
We can surely put more lasers (and dumb bombs, which would be majorly cheap) into space faster than anything another nation can do to stop that.
Also:
http://www.npr.org/2017/06/25/534286469/congressman-proposes-a-military-space-corpsThe American Space Marines and their lasers and tungsten rods will give the rest of the world run.
