Navy was doing it with conventional projectiles
The big guns on an Iowa-class battleship could hurl a 2,700-pound shell 23 miles in 50 seconds with pinpoint accuracy. While not hundreds of miles and hypersonic speeds, it was over the horizon and essentially shooting blind in all kinds of weather. I don't know if the electronics could withstand the g-forces, but a smart projectile could probably do a lot better. Certainly modern computers on the ship and satellite technology could help in the aiming.
The laser technology is an outgrowth of the Linac Coherent Light Source project at the re-purposed Standford Linear Accelerator. This uses the two-mile linear accelerator there to create powerful X-ray laser bursts which can illuminate chemical reactions at the 100 femtosecond time frame. The laboratory at SLAC is obviously an unique research site which takes new advantage of a research device that already existed for decades. The Navy's version makes the whole thing a lot smaller and is tunable. There are probably all kinds of R&D possibilities with commercial prospects if a lower-powered version of such a device can be made, even if it costs millions of dollars.
