Airborne Laser fires tracking laser, hits target
by Tech. Sgt. Eric M. Grill
95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
3/21/2007 --- The YAL-1A Airborne Laser, a modified Boeing 747-400F, successfully test fired its target illuminator laser March 15 during a five-hour test flight.The mission and test firing represented the Airborne Laser's first in-flight external laser firing, and used the NC-135E "Big Crow" test aircraft to verify the ABL's ability to track an airborne target and measure atmospheric turbulence.The Airborne Laser aircraft is undergoing a long-term test phase at the Air Force Flight Test Center here."This mission is a big milestone for our program," said Lt. Col. Michel Zumwalt, the 417th Flight Test Squadron Airborne Laser Combined Test Force operations officer. "It's the first time we've actually had photons leaving the airplane in flight. In other words, we shot a kilowatt-class laser out of our aircraft and we were able to track a target, which is a big step towards meeting one of the mid-milestones (or knowledge points) for this program."The test firing was performed multiple times off the California coast, said Colonel Zumwalt, who is one of only three Air Force ABL pilots.Current testing of the ABL is in preparation for the integration later this year of the chemical oxygen iodine laser, or COIL, a missile-killing, high-energy chemical laser.The COIL is composed of six interconnected modules, each as large as a sport-utility vehicle turned on end. Each module weighs about 6,500 pounds and has 3,600 separate parts. When fired through a window in the aircraft's nose turret, it produces enough energy in a 5-second burst to power a typical household for more than one hour.The COIL is a megawatt-class laser, as opposed to the less-powerful kilowatt-class targeting laser test fired on the March 15 mission, said Dr. Roc White, a contract test director and test conductor for the Airborne Laser Combined Test Force, who was aboard the aircraft during the test flight."We spent an intense four or five months of ground tests back at Wichita (Kansas), first installing and then thoroughly testing out the beam control system which involved two high-power illuminator lasers," Dr. White said, talking about the different classes of lasers the Airborne Laser weapon system will have. " We call it low-power system integration, but that is a relative term, relative to the ultimate weapon system, which is the COIL."These high-power illuminators are significant laser systems, hence all of the concentration on doing this safely (which was) initially proven out on the ground," he said. "The ground testing enabled us to basically walk through the steps, but there is nothing like a live test. Since we got back here to Edwards in December, we've been working to make it to this point to do this first open-air laze. The mission couldn't have gone much better."Mitchell Ray, the Boeing air vehicle integration and test operations lead, also the test director for the March 15 mission, said, "I think it's probably pretty clear by now that this is a rather complex choreography, if you will, of assets. All kinds of things need to come together to enable us to do this. What we want to do is get all the external factors just right so we test the actual weapons system."On the 15th, everything came together and allowed us to do that," Mr. Ray said. "(This was) our first attempt at doing it, and on our very first try, we got it right (on) the mark."The next major step for the test program is to combine what was started with the tracking of another aircraft with the Target Illuminator Laser, Dr. White said, thus being able to then project out the surrogate high-energy laser, called the SHEL."The surrogate high-energy laser will be representative of what the COIL is (and perform) in a manner that will prepare us for actually installing the COIL," he said.The Missile Defense Agency is testing and developing the Airborne Laser as part of the boost phase defense segment of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The ABL, designed to identify, track and intercept enemy ballistic missiles shortly after missile launch, would operate at altitudes above the clouds to locate and track missiles in their boost flight phase, and then accurately point and fire the high-energy laser to intercept enemy missiles near their launch areas, MDA officials said. Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link)
The ALTB in flight. 
An infrared video of the Airborne Laser Testbed (right) disabling a threat-representative short-range ballistic missile (left) during the initial boost phase. 
The United States Missile Defense Agency have announced that their airborne laser system has successfully shot down a ballistic missile for the first time. In a test on Thursday the "Airborne Laser Testbed" (ALTB), a modified Boeing 747-400F, detected a boosting short-range missile and tracked it using a low-energy laser. A second low-energy laser was used to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbance, before the aircraft's High Energy Laser was used to destroy the target.

The missile was liquid-fuelled and said to be "threat-representative", possibly similar to a Scud. It was launched from sea, and shot down by the ALTB within two minutes. In a second test less than an hour later, a solid-fuel missile launched from a ground location was also successfully hit by the High Energy Laser, but deliberately not destroyed. A similar missile was destroyed on February 3.

In a press release announcing the successful tests the Missile Defense Agency said: "The revolutionary use of directed energy is very attractive for missile defense, with the potential to attack multiple targets at the speed of light, at a range of hundreds of kilometers, and at a low cost per intercept attempt compared to current technologies."

The ALTB is described as a "pathfinder" for the use of directed energy in missile defense. It is designed to operate at high altitudes above the clouds, and to detect and destroy ballistic missiles soon after launch whilst they are still in their boosting phase. The aircraft is provided by Boeing, the main laser by Northrop Grumman, and the control systems by Lockheed Martin.

"Through its hard work and technical ingenuity, the government-industry team has produced a breakthrough with incredible potential," stated Greg Hyslop, vice president of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. He said that the experiment had "made history". 

The US has been working on the program since 1996, and has faced numerous problems in that time. The megawatt-class High Energy Laser is known as the chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL), and consists of six modules, each as large as an SUV. The sheer weight of chemicals needed was almost too much for the 747 jet. The laser also had problems with accuracy due to atmospheric conditions.

February's tests were originally scheduled to be carried out in 2002. The amount spent getting the project to this stage has also risen from a planned US$1 billion to $7.3 billion. Last year, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates cut the program back to a single jet for research, suggesting it would not see actual deployment.

“The reality is that you would need a laser something like 20 to 30 times more powerful than the chemical laser in the plane right now to be able to get any distance from the launch site to fire,” Gates told Congress. "So, right now the jet would have to orbit inside the borders of Iran in order to be able to try and use its laser to shoot down that missile in the boost phase."

Gates also raised concerns at the large number of planes that would be required, and the ensuing cost. However, he said that directed energy weapons still had potential for missile defense.