Boeing Airborne Laser Team Fires High-Energy Laser in Flight

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Boeing Airborne Laser Team Fires High-Energy Laser in Flight
UNITED STATES - 20 AUGUST 2009

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency on Aug. 18 successfully fired the high-energy laser aboard the Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft in flight for the first time, moving closer toward ABL's upcoming missile shoot-down demonstration.

During the test, the modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base and fired its high-energy laser while flying over the California High Desert. The laser was fired into an onboard calorimeter, which captured the beam and measured its power.

"This was a significant test of the Airborne Laser's capabilities, demonstrating that the system has truly moved from the drawing board to reality," said Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "We have seen that the Airborne Laser's high-energy laser is functioning aboard the aircraft and that ABL is ready for more flight tests to further validate its viability as a mobile missile defense system."

Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and ABL program director, said, "This test shows that ABL is on track to shoot down a boosting ballistic missile later this year. After years of development, the team is excited to be so close to delivering this transformational and unique directed-energy weapon system. We think ABL will be a game-changer for weapon systems the same way stealth technology transformed aerial combat."

Before the upcoming missile shoot-down demonstration, ABL's high-energy laser will undergo a series of additional flight tests, building toward lethal capabilities. It will advance from being fired into the onboard calorimeter to being sent through the beam control/fire control system, exiting the aircraft through a nose-mounted turret. This will represent a major achievement in directed-energy technology because it will be the first time a megawatt-class laser has been coupled with precise pointing and atmospheric correction in an airborne environment. The team will follow this milestone with the firing of the high-energy laser against a variety of increasingly challenging targets, culminating with an airborne intercept test against a ballistic missile in the boost phase of flight.

ABL returned to flight in April, following integration and ground testing of the high-energy laser aboard the aircraft at Edwards. The team on Aug. 10 engaged an instrumented boosting missile with a low-power, atmosphere-compensated laser beam. ABL's development history includes numerous flight tests in 2007 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 a target. In September 2008, the team fired the high-energy laser aboard the aircraft in ground testing for the first time.

Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL, which is designed to provide unprecedented speed-of-light capability to destroy all classes of ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight. In addition, Boeing is using internal investments to examine directed energy's potential to address several other critical missions, including defending against aircraft, cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles.

Northrop Grumman designed and built ABL's high-energy laser. Lockheed Martin developed the weapon system's beam control/fire control system, and Boeing provided the battle management system.


Source: The Boeing Company

 

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Airborne Laser Keeps Optical Components Aligned Perfectly to Achieve First Flight Firing of Northrop Grumman-Built Laser
UNITED STATES - 20 AUGUST 2009

One flight. Three more 'firsts' for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL). And a victory for 'laser alignment.'

Those were the primary achievements the airborne directed energy system chalked up when its high-power Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) was fired in-flight for the first time Aug. 18. In the process, ABL became:

* The first mobile, megawatt-class laser
* The first airborne, megawatt-class laser, and
* The most powerful laser ever to be operated during an actual flight.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), under contract to The Boeing Company, the ABL prime contractor, designed and built the high-energy COIL, the most powerful laser ever developed for an airborne environment.

Maintaining the precise alignment of optical components within the laser while in flight ranks among the program's notable accomplishments, according to Steve Hixson, vice president of Advanced Concepts - Space and Directed Energy Systems for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector.

"ABL has to keep all of the powerful laser's optical components perfectly positioned as the aircraft vibrates and flexes during flight," Hixson said. "Since we were unable to fly the kind of large concrete pads used to hold a ground-based laser's optics in place, we had to isolate the COIL's optics from the structure but also maintain alignment. So the team developed an optical bench isolation system that isolates disturbances caused by normal aircraft operations while maintaining alignment to the gain medium, or the source of a laser's optical power. It's like an automobile's 'smart suspension' that keeps the car riding smoothly at the same level over a bumpy road."

The ABL aircraft is a modified Boeing 747-400F whose back half holds the high-energy laser. 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.

Guy Renard, Northrop Grumman's ABL program manager, said COIL "operated in flight as if it was planted solidly on terra firma instead of on an aircraft flying hundreds of miles per hour and thousands of feet above ground." According to Renard, "Investments in ABL's leap-ahead technologies are paying off, as this flight proved."


Source: Northrop Grumman Corporation

 

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Mobile Megawatt class laser !---Now Thats lethal

 

[Thomas]

Sadly Obama wants to kill this program. he was against it even before he took office. It remains to be seen if he can do it though since the program enjoys support from a lot of senators and congressmen. While the technology has made rapid advancements recently. One problem they have run into is the higher the power output on high energy battlefield lasers. The more damage is created on the laser lens from imperfections. In other words they burn through lenses constantly.