Officials Map Out Test Milestones for Airborne Laser

Space.com ^ | March 22nd, 2006 | Jeremy Singer

[Termite_Commander]

The threat of cancellation no longer looms over the Pentagon's Airborne Laser (ABL) effort, but senior program officials say they are taking nothing for granted as they prepare for a missile-intercept demonstration in 2008.

Several clear test milestones have been laid out for the ABL in 2006 so that senior Missile Defense Agency (MDA) officials will be able to measure its progress, according to Air Force Col. John Daniels, the ABL's program director.

The ABL is a Boeing 747 aircraft being equipped with a high-powered chemical laser to destroy ballistic missiles in their boost phase. Boeing Co. of Chicago is the prime contactor on the effort.

As envisioned, the aircraft would fly in a figure-eight pattern over an area deemed a likely site of a missile launch. Onboard infrared sensors would detect the launch and feed that information into a computer that would direct the laser turret to point at the ascending missile. The turret would then fire two lower-powered solid-state lasers—one to track the missile and one to measure atmospheric distortion—before shooting the high-powered chemical laser at the target.

The ABL program's inability to meet cost and schedule targets in past years once made it a candidate for termination. Just prior to his 2004 retirement, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, who was then serving as MDA director, said the program could be canceled if it did not perform well in initial flight and ground tests that were scheduled for late in the year.

Those tests were a flight of the aircraft outfitted with the battle-management and fire-control systems, and a brief firing of the chemical laser on the ground. Both went smoothly, and the senior MDA officials have not invoked similar termination threats in relation to any upcoming ABL test, Daniels said in a telephone interview.

As the 2004 demonstrations approached, markers, called "knowledge points," were laid out to ensure that progress on the program—or lack thereof—would be easy for senior MDA officials and their congressional overseers to gauge, said Daniels, who took over the program in April 2005. He replaced Brig. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, who now serves as the director of the Air Force's military satellite communications joint program office.

The ABL program has a budget of $471.6 million in 2006. Knowledge points laid out for this year include testing of the solid-state lasers for missile tracking and atmospheric-distortion correction. Ground-based tests of those lasers are slated to wrap up in August, with flight-testing to take place by the end of the year, Daniels said.

During the flight test, the lasers will be fired at a military NKC-135 aircraft with a picture of a ballistic missile painted on its fuselage, according to Greg Hyslop, Boeing vice president and ABL program director. While these lasers are relatively low powered, the aircraft will be shielded and the pilots will wear protective goggles, he said.

Also planned for 2006 is the refurbishment of the optical hardware on the high-power chemical laser for a new round of ground testing in 2007, Daniels said.

That hardware has been used extensively over the past 18 months and the military plans to thoroughly clean and inspect it to ensure it is ready for the next series of tests and then 2008 intercept, Daniels said.

MDA has requested $631 million for the ABL effort in 2007. During that year the MDA plans to install the refurbished chemical laser hardware on the 747 aircraft, and run ground tests to prepare for the 2008 intercept demonstration, Daniels said.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, the MDA's current director, has indicated that the 2008 demonstration likely will factor heavily into a decision on whether to continue with the ABL program beyond then. The ABL has been positioned as a competitor to the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, a boost-phase missile defense system slated for a flight test in 2008, and MDA officials have indicated that only one of the programs may be funded over the long term.

Daniels said an operational ABL fleet ultimately could consist of seven aircraft.

When it submitted its 2006 funding request to Congress last year, the MDA said it was planning to begin design work on a second ABL aircraft in 2007. The plan accompanying the budget submission for 2007 delays that work to 2009 to take advantage of the lessons learned from the intercept demonstration, Daniels said.

If the 2008 demonstration is successful, it likely would be followed by attempts to shoot down longer-range missiles, Daniels said.

Other work that could follow a successful 2008 intercept demonstration could include testing the ABL against other airborne targets, and possibly using the system to track space debris, Hyslop said during a March 10 briefing for reporters.

[Termite_Commander]

Nifty.

[Parmenio]

"As envisioned, the aircraft would fly in a figure-eight pattern over an area deemed a likely site of a missile launch."

How did they plan to protect the 747? The way the article desribes it it would seem difficult to protect the plane against air to air or gound to air missle attack.

[Termite_Commander]

The Boeing-led Airborne Laser team successfully exposed the ABL aircrafts conformal window for the first time during flight in May. The exposure of the conformal window is a maneuver necessary for the weapon system to complete its mission of shooting down a ballistic missile during the boost phase of flight. Image Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Jim Shryne


This diagram shows the locations of various systems within the Airborne Laser aircraft. ABL team members are responsible for various elements of the system: Boeing is responsible for supplying the 747-400 Freighter, developing crew safety and the Battle Management system. Lockheed Martin is responsible for the nose-mounted turret, illuminator lasers and beam-control system. Northrop Grumman is responsible for the system's high-energy laser. Image Credit: Boeing/ABL.


Lockheed Martin Space Systems engineer in the company’s Sunnyvale, Calif. facility inspects the Turret Ball Conformal Window on the Flight Turret Assembly for the Airborne Laser. The window is the exit for the High Energy Laser and exit and return window for the Beacon Illuminator and Tracker Illuminator lasers. Image Credit: Lockheed Martin.

[bruin66]

During the flight test, the lasers will be fired at a military NKC-135 aircraft with a picture of a ballistic missile painted on its fuselage...

What??

[SlowBoat407]

Just be sure to double-check the target coordinates.

[Daus]

What??

North Korea is now painting their missles to look like airborne cows to fool the system. :)

[SlowBoat407]

During the flight test, the lasers will be fired at a military NKC-135 aircraft with a picture of a ballistic missile painted on its fuselage,

Crew of the laser plane will then all yell "ka-cheooo! ka-cheooo!" and "bzzzzzzttt!!", while crew of the KC-135 will yell "You missed!!"

[SlowBoat407]

North Korea is now painting their missles to look like airborne cows to fool the system. :)

Don't laugh. I heard one of those took out a police car the other day.

[Bigs from Michigan]

The laser will be low power and cause no damage. The idea is to test the laser targeting system. By doing it on a moving NKC-135, the test can be repeated many times.

[ArrogantBustard]

Knowledge points laid out for this year include testing of the solid-state lasers for missile tracking and atmospheric-distortion correction.

Does it make sense now?

[ArrogantBustard]

Aha! Another voice of sanity. Are you, perchance, some sort of engineer?

[null and void]

ping

[NonValueAdded]

Silent Lightning bump

[Rockitz]

I worked on the laser portion of this in the early 90s. I always thought it looked like a systems nightmare and turns out I was right.

[null and void]

Make that:

ZAPping...

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

"How did they plan to protect the 747? The way the article desribes it it would seem difficult to protect the plane against air to air or gound to air missle attack."

Distance and Airpower. F-22 maybe?

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

"picture of a ballistic missile"

Computers must be used for aiming at the shape of an ballistic missile...?

[null and void]

One would think a tow target would be safer...

[phantomworker]

WoW! That looks like an incredible program!!!! Might want to call it...Peace through light! ;)

Thanks for the ping, Nully!

[TChris]

Now in a new, portable size!