BMD Watch: Boeing ABL test success

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- Boeing announced Friday that with its partner companies and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency it had "successfully completed a key Airborne Laser flight test."

The successful ABL test had shown "the weapon system's ability to actively track an airborne target, compensate for atmospheric turbulence and fire a surrogate for its missile-killing high-energy laser," the company said in a statement.

"During the test, the modified Boeing 747-400F took off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and used its infrared sensors and its track illuminator laser (TILL) to find and track an instrumented target board located on the U.S. Air Force's NC-135E Big Crow test aircraft," the Boeing statement said.

"The Big Crow then fired its beacon laser at the ABL aircraft to allow ABL to measure and compensate for laser beam distortion caused by the atmosphere. Finally, ABL fired the surrogate high-energy laser (SHEL) at the Big Crow target board to simulate a missile shoot down," the statement said.

"With the exception of ABL's beacon illuminator laser (BILL), this flight test demonstrated the entire engagement sequence from target acquisition to pointing and firing the SHEL," it said.

"This successful test shows that ABL can find and track a target, use its beam control/fire control system to compensate for atmospheric turbulence, and fire a surrogate high-energy laser to simulate a missile intercept," said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "We have now demonstrated most of the steps needed for the Airborne Laser to engage a threat missile and deliver precise and lethal effects against it."

Boeing said the ABL "fired the TILL at the Big Crow target board for the first time March 15."

The company said Friday's test "demonstrated ABL's ability to transition from passive tracking of a simulated missile plume to active tracking, by 'walking' the TILL beam to the nose of the missile and using the TILL light returning from the edge of missile for precision tracking and determination of where to point the SHEL on the target."

"In addition, atmospheric turbulence compensation was performed concurrent with active tracking and SHEL firing," it said.

"In upcoming flight tests, ABL will again demonstrate the engagement sequence, but this time use the return from its BILL instead of the Big Crow's beacon laser to measure atmospheric distortion," Boeing said. "After these flight tests, 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 high-power chemical laser has completed rigorous ground testing at Edwards Air Force Base and is being prepared for installation," the company said.

Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL. Its U.S. industry partners in the program 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.

Raytheon wins $304M BMD radar contract

Raytheon announced July 11 that it had won a $304 million contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency "to develop advanced tracking and discrimination capabilities for the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) forward based AN/TPY-2 radar."

Raytheon said it would develop and test "radar software, various engineering tasks, maintenance and support, infrastructure upgrades and deployment mission planning."

"Work will be performed at the company's Missile Defense Center, Woburn, Mass., and the Warfighter Protection Center, Huntsville, Ala.," the company said.

"This award underscores the importance of providing our warfighters with state-of-the-art missile defense technologies to address emerging threats," said Pete Franklin, vice president, National and Theater Security Programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.

"The critical capabilities that Raytheon is developing will track missiles over a wide range and help guide interceptors to their targets," Franklin said.

"The BMDS program has been designed to counter evolving threats through the development and release of spiral capabilities," the Raytheon statement said. "The first forward-based capability spiral was released on schedule in October 2006 and is now operational. Raytheon IDS is currently developing the second forward-based capability spiral with release planned in early 2008."

"Raytheon IDS designed and built the AN/TPY-2 radar drawing on extensive sensor knowledge from its X-Band 'Family of Radars,'" the statement said.

"A high-power, transportable X-Band radar, the AN/TPY-2 is designed to detect, track and discriminate ballistic missile threats. It maximizes the capability of the BMDS to identify, assess and engage threats to the U.S., deployed forces and allies," it said.

"As the prime contractor for this program, Raytheon IDS has delivered the first two of five planned AN/TPY-2 radars to the Missile Defense Agency," the company said.

"The first radar, delivered in November 2004, is currently deployed in Japan. It is the first new Missile Defense Agency system to be developed and deployed as an operational asset outside the United States. The second AN/TPY-2 radar recently completed acceptance testing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Raytheon is also responsible for whole-life engineering support for AN/TPY-2 radars under a contract awarded in June 2005," it said.

USAF starts deactivating Minuteman ICBMs at base

A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, was taken away from its launch facility near Brady, Mont., July 12 as the first step in deactivating the old strategic nuclear weapons at Malmstrom Air Force Base, the American Forces Press Network reported last week.

AFPN said U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley gave the go-ahead on June 29 to start work on deactivating 50 Minuteman III ICBMs and the five missile alert facilities at the base in north-central Montana, which has been run by the 564th Missile Squadron.

AFPN said the decision to deactivate the Malmstrom facilities was taken as part of the restructuring mandated by the Pentagon's 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review.

The QDR said, "To achieve the characteristics of the future joint force and build upon progress to date, the Department of Defense will reduce the number of deployed Minuteman III ballistic missiles from 500 to 450 beginning in FY07 (fiscal year 2007)."