WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- The Boeing Company has announced a significant breakthrough in its Airborne Laser, or ABL program.
On March 15, Boeing and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency "successfully fired the Airborne Laser (ABL) weapon system's tracking laser in-flight at an airborne target for the first time," the company said in a statement
In the test, "the modified Boeing 747-400F took off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and used its infrared sensors, part of ABL's Boeing-developed battle management system, to find the simulated missile exhaust generated by an instrumented target board located on the U.S. Air Force's NC-135E Big Crow test aircraft. The ABL aircraft then pointed and fired its track illuminator laser (TILL) at the target to gather target-tracking data, a key step in a missile engagement. The TILL, a solid-state laser, is part of ABL's beam control/fire control system, developed by Lockheed Martin," the statement said.
"The Airborne Laser team has successfully transitioned to the next major test phase, completing the first in a series of in-flight laser firings at an airborne target," said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "This first firing confirms that ABL can find an airborne target, precisely fix the track illuminator laser onto that target and use the laser firing results to track the target. This is an important step toward demonstrating the aircraft's ability to engage a flying target."
Boeing said that in "upcoming flight tests, ABL will fire its other solid-state laser, the beacon illuminator laser, in conjunction with the TILL to demonstrate the ability to compensate for the atmospheric turbulence that the missile-killing, high-energy chemical laser would encounter in its path to the target. The aircraft then will complete an engagement sequence by firing both illuminator lasers and using a surrogate high-energy laser to simulate a target shoot-down."
"When these tests are completed, the program will install the actual Northrop Grumman-built high-energy laser in the aircraft to prepare for the first intercept test against an in-flight ballistic missile in 2009," the company said.
The statement noted that "Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL, which will provide a speed-of-light capability to destroy all classes of ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight."
"Boeing provides the modified aircraft and the battle management system and is the overall systems integrator. ABL partners are Northrop Grumman, which supplies the high-energy laser and the beacon illuminator laser, and Lockheed Martin, which provides the nose-mounted turret and the beam control/fire control system," it said.
MDA announces successful missile tracking test
Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said Tuesday the MDA had completed "the successful execution of an important test involving the tracking of a long-range target missile by radars that are being incorporated into the Ballistic Missile Defense System," according to a statement issued by the agency.
"The target missile was launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. at 9:27 pm PDT March 20. The target was successfully tracked by the Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar and two Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships using onboard SPY-1 radar," the MDA said.
"A primary focus of this system test was to assess the execution and functionality of various BMDS Engagement Sequence Groups<" the agency said.
"An Engagement Sequence Group identifies the combination of weapons and sensors that work together to detect, track and intercept an enemy missile," it said. "During the test, target tracking data from the SBX radar was successfully transmitted to the C2BMC (Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication ) system and the Ground-based Midcourse Defense fire control system at the Joint National Integration Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"While no live interceptor missiles were launched, a weapon task plan (intercept solution) was generated and simulated interceptor missiles were "launched" from Fort Greely, Alaska using performance data from previous interceptor launches. Similarly, Aegis ships tracked the target missile and performed a simulated engagement using a simulated Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor missile," the MDA said.
The MDA said participants in the test "included the Operational Test Agencies, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Strategic Command."
Russia determined to stay in space
Russia is going to remain a militarily significant force in outer space, the nation's defense minister said this week.
"One of the key tasks facing the Space Forces in the future is to ensure Russia's guaranteed and independent access to outer space, and the implementation of its independent space policy," recently appointed Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told an audience with senior officers from the Russian Space Forces, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday.
Serdyukov also pledged his support for RSF plans to "build a fully-developed land infrastructure for launches for the entire range of carrier rockets and satellites, both military and dual-purpose, to all required altitudes and orbits," RIA Novosti said.
RIA Novosti also cited the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that in 2006, the RSF "launched eight military and 17 civilian satellites under various programs from three space centers on Russian territory, and conducted four practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles."
During the same time period, the RSF's "early-warning radars detected last year 12 ballistic missile launches, including eight domestic and four foreign launches, 11 carrier rocket lift offs, and tracked the movements of over 100 domestic and foreign satellites," the report said.
RIA Novosti also cited the commander of Russia's Space Forces, three-star Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin, as saying that Russia's early-warning missile threat coverage remained efficient, alert and comprehensive. The coverage had no "holes" in it, he said.
