But One Analyst Says The Program Has Merit

In the most recent test of the airborne laser being developed as part of a missile defense program, the target was successfully acquired and tracked by the equipment aboard a specially-modified B747 off Point Magu, CA, but the megawatt class lethal chemical laser failed to switch on to destroy it.

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Riki Ellison, Founder and Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), said in a statement that the test should not be considered a setback to the program.

"This marks the second time out of five attempts to engage the chemical laser of the Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) this year that the lethal megawatt chemical laser was turned off automatically for safety reasons or was not switched on when electronically signaled to do so. The first failure, which was caused by a hardware issue, happened in a similar test last month while the most recent test failure was caused by a software issue. Both of these issues are easily solved and do not create an engineering barrier or block to the further successful development of the program."

Ellison points out that the system has successfully engaged three targets during the test program. "he program remains a precious technological trail blazer that keeps the United States well ahead of other nations chasing these similar technologies while giving our military a functional test bed to leap forward. The ALTB system has achieved a number of historic engineering breakthroughs."

The analyst says that the program has been cut back severely by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the administration due to the projected affordability of an operational system, and that the number of people working on the program has been reduced by close to 75 percent over the past year and has been made into a test and risk reduction platform; losing a significant amount of critical skills, expertise and knowledge in the subject matter.

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"The ALTB funding request of $99 million in 2011 is a very small investment of the overall $8.4 billion Missile Defense Agency budget request to continue working out glitches in the system and testing the megawatt class chemical laser at greater ranges," he said. "With greater support this coveted research and development program offers risk and cost reductions in all directed energy laser engagements from solid state, electric (diode pumped alkali lasers, DPALs), and chemical means."

Ellison says that in order for the expectations of laser development to be met, more testing and research needs to be done. "There have been five high power laser tests conducted this year with a possible sixth before the end of December. There are currently only two high power laser tests with a much reduced budget scheduled in 2011."

FMI: www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org