The Glade 4.0

Having left active duty over a decade ago and never paying much attention to the Air Force, outside of their role as close air support (Hug a Warthog driver today!). I was unaware of two things.

1. I didn't realize they were still producing C-130s.
2. I didn't realize the C-141 had been replaced by the C-17.

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"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me." - Alice R. Longworth

"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash Williams

The C-130 is still in production as the "J" model. IT's actually considered quite survivable in low-intensity fighting, hence the AC-130 gunship version. It's also the delivery platform for the MOAB.

As for mirrored armor and other defenses, any laser delivering enough power to be a useable weapon would probably burn right through that sort of defense. Mirrors always have impurities in them which would heat, warp, and distort the mirror, not to mention the everyday hazards of dust, scratching, etc.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

This might work against early weapons, however I think the armor would be something like a particle laden resin applied to normal armor. But I can imagine some problems:

This gives a infantry or vehicle outfitted with such armor a tale tell signature in sunlight unless the reflectivity of it was design to only react to the same wavelength the weapon was calibrated to. And even then, if that wavelength was in the visible spectrum, it would just mean instead of a gleaming bead, the armor would look like a single color from a distance.

The absorptivity (α) and tranmissivity (τ) of the mirrored element of the armor had better be damned near 0 (0 is unachievable) otherwise I'd imagine intense enough weapons would still kill a human. As the weapons got even more powerful (such as those for use in anti-vehicle rather than anti-personal applications), the α and τ of the reflective element would have to be proportionally reduced. And this doesn't consider the fact that all armor would have some sort of gaps in the reflective element. Even a particle infused quality would have tiny pores which the beam would easily penetrate since a beam is just an array of infinitely small waves.

A cloud of particles, would easily provide enough scattering to completely cause the beam to go diffuse at the perspective of the target. However, deploying such a cloud constantly would also be highly unfeasible. Reactively deploying such cloud would probably be ineffective since this weapon could probably engage and destroy multiple targets in a single instant.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

There already exists the technology for explosive anti-personnel tank armor. I'd imagine rigging a resin layer to explode out into a particle puff when it reaches a certain heat level is quite within the realm of possibility. since the resin would be heat triggered, the paint over the resin could be appropriate camouflage for the theater terrain.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

You're thinking of ERA (explosive-reactive armor), which is designed to defeat HEAT warheads, not be anti-personnel (although it is a serious hazard to nearby personnel).

I'm not sure the "puff" would work well, since lasers move at the speed of light. By the time the resin "puffed" the energy might already be past it.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."