Boeing may switch laser to 747-8

Posted on: Oct. 3rd, 2006 || Source: Flight Global | E-mail Article | Print Article

Boeing may switch laser to 747-8

Boeing has begun company-funded studies into using the new 747-8F freighter, instead of the 747-400F, as the platform for the US Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) missile defence system. Although a decision on whether to produce further ABL systems will not be taken until after a shoot-down test planned for 2008, the only new-build platform available by then will be the new 747-8.

The YAL-1 ABL prototype – dubbed “Tail 1” – is a heavily modified 747-400 freighter, and the stretched -8 offers several potential advantages, says Greg Hyslop, vice-president and ABL programme director. “The 747-8 has longer range and more room, plus new technologies that could make it easier to integrate the mission system,” he says.

Lacking funding from the US Missile Defense Agency, Boeing is spending company money on design of a production ABL.

“There is no formal decision on a second aircraft, but we are looking at various configurations,” says Hyslop. “We are investing our own funds to find synergy between the next ABL and the 747-8, to make it easier to integrate,” he says.

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