C-130H To Be Fitted With Advanced Tactical Laser
Boeing's Missile
Defense Systems (MDS) branch has taken delivery of the aircraft for
the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program, a C-130H transport
belonging to the USAF's 46th Test Wing.
The C-130H (file photo of type, right) was handed over to Boeing
on January 18 in Crestview, FL near Eglin Air Force Base. Boeing is
modifying the aircraft to enable it to carry a high-energy chemical
laser and battle management and beam control subsystems.
Boeing will begin flight testing the aircraft this summer with
all subsystems on board except the high-energy laser. A low-power
surrogate laser will stand in for the kilowatt-class, high-energy
laser.
The high-energy laser is being built in Albuquerque, NM and is
scheduled to achieve "first light" in ground tests this summer. By
2007, Boeing will install the device on the aircraft and fire it
in-flight at mission-representative ground targets to demonstrate
the military utility of high-energy lasers. The laser will be fired
through an existing 50-inch-diameter hole in the aircraft's
belly.
Boeing is developing the Advanced Tactical Laser for the U.S.
Defense Department through an Advanced Concept Technology
Demonstration (ACTD) program. Following the 2007 tests, it is
anticipated that DOD will approve starting ATL's full-scale
development.
ATL can produce both lethal and non-lethal effects, supporting
missions on the battlefield and in urban operations. It can
destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral
damage. As a directed energy weapon, the Advanced Tactical Laser is
complementary to the Airborne Laser (ABL), which Boeing is
developing for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to destroy ballistic
missiles in their boost phase of flight. ABL consists of a
megawatt-class chemical laser mounted on a Boeing 747-400 freighter
aircraft (above).
"ATL will do for air-to-ground combat what ABL will do for
missile defense: revolutionize the battlefield," said Pat Shanahan,
Boeing Missile Defense Systems vice president and general manager.
"ATL will give the warfighter a speed-of-light, precision
engagement capability and avoid the kind of collateral damage
sometimes associated with such traditional weapons as bombs and
missiles."
Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser industry team includes L-3
Communications/Brasher, which made the turret for the laser, and
HYTEC Incorporated, which made various structural elements of the
weapon system.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses.