Airborne laser on track for intercept test

Posted on: Mar. 21st, 2006 || Source: flightglobal.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Airborne laser on track for intercept test

Downgraded to a demonstration, with plans for production on hold, the ambitious US Airborne Laser (ABL) programme is keeping to a schedule that calls for a ballistic missile shoot-down test in 2008, says prime contractor Boeing.

Tests planned for this year will culminate in the first closed-loop target tracking and beam firing using a low-power surrogate laser. The high-energy laser (HEL) will be installed in the YAL-1 prototype next year for flight tests leading up to the crucial shoot-down demonstration. “It’s holding schedule. The risk is coming down,” says ABL programme director Greg Hyslop. Agreed in 2003, the revised schedule calls for a lethal test in 2008 to prove that a ballistic missile can be shot down in its boost phase using a megawatt-class laser mounted in a modified 747-400F.

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