Ground Test Conducted At Edwards AFB
Boeing joined with industry teammates and the US Missile Defense
Agency last week to fire a high-energy laser through the Airborne
Laser's (ABL) 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.
"This test is significant because it demonstrated that the
Airborne Laser missile defense program has successfully integrated
the entire weapon system aboard the ABL aircraft," said 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 next year."
Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and ABL program director,
said 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 said. "The team is meeting
its commitment to deliver this transformational directed-energy
weapon system in the near term."
The program has logged many accomplishments over the past
several years. In 2005, the high-energy laser demonstrated lethal
levels of duration and power in the System Integration Laboratory
at Edwards. In 2007, ABL completed numerous flight tests that
demonstrated its ability to track an airborne target, measure and
compensate for atmospheric conditions, and deliver a surrogate
high-energy laser's simulated lethal beam on the target. In
September 2008, the team achieved "first light" by firing the
high-energy laser into a calorimeter aboard the aircraft.
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.
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.