One of the important application directions of airborne laser weapon is to interference and damage the incoming surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles, in order to realize the self-defense of the carrier. The development process, technical characteristics and operational capability of the abroad surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles are briefly summarized, combined with the mechanism under laser irradiation, the characteristics of laser weapon’s interference and damage to missiles are expounded. On this basis, the feasible path, capability boundary and operation mode of selfdefense laser weapon for airborne platform are analyzed and researched. The development status and trend of airborne laser weapons are briefly described, and development route and capability level of the key technologies involved are analyzed and evaluated. At last, the analysis and prediction of the future of airborne self-defense laser weapons are proposed.