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EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.–The Boeing Company, industry teammates, and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency fired a high-energy laser through the Airborne Laser’s (ABL’s) beam control/fire control system, completing the first ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft.
During the test at Edwards Air Force Base, the laser beam traveled through the beam control/fire control system before exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret. The beam control/fire control system steered and focused the beam onto a simulated ballistic-missile target.
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The Boeing Airborne Laser aircraft, shown above, carries a high-power laser and adaptive optics to destroy enemy ballistic missiles in their boost phase.
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“This test is significant because it demonstrated that the Airborne Laser missile defense program has integrated the entire weapon system aboard the ABL aircraft,” says Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. “With the achievement of the first firing of the laser aboard the aircraft in September, the team has now completed the two major milestones it hoped to accomplish in 2008, keeping ABL on track to conduct the missile shootdown demonstration planned for this year.”
Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and ABL program director, says the next step for the program is a series of longer-duration laser firings through the beam control/fire control system.
“Once we complete those tests, we will begin demonstrating the entire weapon system in flight,” Rinn says. “The team is meeting its commitment to deliver this transformational directed-energy weapon system in the near term.”
Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL, which will provide speed-of-light capability to destroy all classes of ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight, says a representative.
The ABL aircraft is a modified Boeing 747-400F whose back half holds the high-energy laser, designed and built by Northrop Grumman. The front section of the aircraft contains the beam control/fire control system, developed by Lockheed Martin, and the battle management system, provided by Boeing.
Military & Aerospace Electronics January, 2009
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