[Strategerist]

Haven’t read the whole thread and I suspect this may have been mentioned already, but the location given in the news video is very close to San Nicolas Island, where Boeing has a launch facility for missiles for Airborne laser tests...

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Aug. 13, 2009 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency on Aug. 10 successfully completed the Airborne Laser’s (ABL) first in-flight test against an instrumented target missile, achieving a historic milestone.

During the test, the modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base and used its infrared sensors to find a target missile launched from San Nicolas Island, Calif. The Boeing-developed battle management system aboard ABL then issued engagement and target location instructions to the beam control/fire control system, which acquired the target and fired its two solid-state illuminator lasers to track the target and measure atmospheric conditions. ABL then fired a surrogate high-energy laser at the target, simulating a missile intercept. Instrumentation on the target verified that the surrogate high-energy laser hit the target.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Now that would make sense....but would think there would still be a NOTAM that would have to have been filed...

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

I'll have to retract my earlier comment, ABL does test in that area (I guess they dropped the NM test range? Not sure). Their last test was Oct 21, off the coast os So Cal, and was a failure. Same area...so if this was ABL, why hasn't this been noticed before?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69K3RZ20101021