Boeing lists recent ABL successes

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Airborne Laser has passed a series of important flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base.

Boeing said in a statement this week that in the tests at Edwards AFB in California, the ABL "tracked an airborne target, measured and compensated for atmospheric turbulence and fired a surrogate high energy laser at the target."

"The Airborne Laser consists of a modified Boeing 747-400F whose back half will hold the high energy laser -- the world's largest and most powerful mobile laser. Northrop Grumman Space Technology in Redondo Beach, Calif., designed and built the megawatt-class laser. The aircraft's front half contains the beam control/fire control system, provided by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif., and the battle management system, provided by Boeing in Seattle, Wash," Boeing said.

"The collective team has done a phenomenal job completing system flight tests with the surrogate high energy laser and preparing the aircraft for installation of the actual high energy laser," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "Once again, we made and demonstrated enormous progress toward ushering in a new age of directed energy weapons."

Boeing listed what it called the ABL's "series of significant performance objectives in flight for the first time."

-- "March 16: Fired ABL's track illuminator laser -- TILL -- to track an airborne target.

May 1: Used ABL's infrared sensors to locate, acquire and track an F-16 fighter jet moving vertically at a rapid rate of ascent.

-- "June 29: Fired ABL's surrogate high energy laser -- SHEL-- through the aircraft's nose-mounted turret.

-- "July 13: Fired both the TILL and the SHEL at an airborne target.

-- "July 24: Fired ABL's beacon illuminator laser -- BILL -- at an airborne target and used the reflection to determine compensation for atmospheric disturbances.

-- "Aug. 23: Completed numerous flight tests in which ABL fired all three lasers -- the TILL, the BILL and the SHEL -- at an airborne target, demonstrating the ability to track the target, measure and compensate for atmospheric turbulence and deliver the SHEL's simulated lethal beam on the target."