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Strategic Defense: The Air Force's airborne laser program passes yet another test, proving "unproven" missile defense once again. The question is not whether we can get it to work, but whether we can afford not to.The news that Iran has enough nuclear material to build a nuclear weapon in relatively short order and is well along on missiles to deliver its nukes has put a sense of urgency on the proposed missile defense system slated for Poland and the Czech Republic. Fortunately, another answer to the threat posed by rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea has just passed a...

Never has Ronald Reagan's dream of layered missile defenses—Star Wars, for short—been as politically out of favor as in the Age of Obama. Nor as close, at least technologically, to becoming realized. The latest encouraging news came Thursday courtesy of the Misssile Defense Agency. The Airborne Laser prototype aircraft this week found, tracked, engaged and simulated an intercept with a missile seconds after liftoff. It was the first time the Agency used an "instrumented" missile to confirm the laser works as expected. Next up this fall will be the first live attempt to bring down a ballistic missile, but this...

EDWARDS AFB, CA - The Boeing Company and the US Missile Defense Agency 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 used its infrared sensors to find a target missile launched from San Nicolas Island, Calif. The battle management system aboard ABL 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...

SDI: If you missed the news, which isn't hard given how poorly these things are covered, our "unproven" missile defense proved itself again last week, when a U.S. warship downed a simulated North Korean missile in flight.The test, conducted in Hawaiian waters by the Navy and the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), was the 23rd firing by ships equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. It was the 19th success, including the shoot-down of a dead U.S. spy satellite last year. A short-range ballistic missile simulating a missile like North Korea's Nodongs or Scuds was fired from...

The Missile Defense Agency announced yesterday that the prototype Airborne Laser aircraft successfully completed its first two tracking tests against boosting missile targets over the Pacific Ocean on June 6 and June 13, respectively. The first test came only seven weeks after the aircraft returned to flight, and follows nearly a year of aircraft and system modifications, including the installation of its megawatt-class chemical laser. These tests mark the first time ABL has demonstrated a complete low-power engagement sequence against a boosting target, in this case a ground-launched Terrier-Lynx missile. The missile was launched from San Nicolas Island, located in...

EDWARDS AFB - Progress continues on preparing the airborne laser ballistic missile defense system for full-scale ground testing later this year, with a final flight demonstration of its ability to shoot down a ballistic missile still set for 2009. The Missile Defense Agency program, led by contractor The Boeing Co. and housed at Edwards Air Force Base, recently began testing the chemical laser system, the lethal component to the weapon, which is housed in a modified Boeing 747. A high-energy chemical laser, fired through a rotating turret on the airplane's nose, is used to puncture a hole in the missile's...

The United States Defence Department has developed a prototype of an aircraft armed with a laser gun that could destroy tanks 10 miles away. The Airborne Tactical Laser weapon is to be mounted on a Boeing aircraft and is capable of destroying targets up to 15km (10m) away, according to Defense Update online magazine. The ten-centimetre-wide beam will heat targets almost instantly to thousands of degrees and will slice through metal even at maximum range. It is intended both for battlefield use and for missile defense.

Redondo Beach CA (SPX) Northrop Grumman, along with industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), have begun re-assembly of the world's most powerful laser built for an airborne environment onto MDA's Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft to prepare for high-power system testing. The integration is taking place at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., following a refurbishment by the company that involved the disassembly and inspection of the high-energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) after the successful conclusion of ground tests in 2005. During those tests, the laser demonstrated repeatability of sufficient power and duration to shoot down a ballistic...

EDWARDS AFB - A modified U.S. 747 airliner circles near threatening territory, searching for signs of a ballistic missile launch. When a missile is detected, shortly after it leaves the ground, the aircraft's high-tech systems go to work, shooting a high-energy laser from a turret in the aircraft's nose. The laser burns a hole in the ballistic missile, destroying it and raining debris on the territory which launched it. That scenario may sound like a scene from "Star Wars," but officials with the Missile Defense Agency say it is quite close to reality with the airborne laser ballistic missile defense...

This latest test demonstrates ABL's ability to use both its illuminator lasers to track a simulated target, compensate for atmospheric disturbances, and complete the engagement sequence by simultaneously propagating a surrogate high energy laser to the target aircraft. This latest test, conducted on 24 July, demonstrates ABL's ability to use both it's illuminator lasers to track a simulated target, compensate for atmospheric disturbances, and to complete to engagement sequence by simultaneously propagating a surrogating a surrogate high energy laser to the target.

The airborne laser ballistic missile defense system successfully fired its tracking laser during a flight test Thursday night. Testing of the ABL is based at Edwards Air Force Base, and the laser test took place over the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. The weapons system is designed to use a high-energy laser mounted in a highly modified 747 aircraft to destroy a ballistic missile while it is still in the boost phase, shortly after launch. A high-energy chemical laser is used to puncture a hole in the missile's pressurized fuel tank, causing it to rupture. In this way, the...

Lt. General Henry A. “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today the successful completion March 15, 2007 of the first in-flight test of the laser targeting system for the Airborne Laser (ABL), a boost-phase missile defense system that is designed to use directed energy to destroy a ballistic missile in the “boost” phase of flight. This important milestone involved multiple firings of the Tracking Illuminator Laser (TILL), mounted inside of the world’s most heavily modified Boeing 747-400 aircraft, to engage a missile-shaped target painted on the side of a KC-135 aircraft nicknamed “Big Crow,” and used as an aerial...

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 27, 2006 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE:BA], along with industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, rolled out the Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft today from a modification facility in Wichita, Kan., during a ceremony marking major program achievements on several fronts. Boeing presented the aircraft to a crowd of hundreds of government customers, industry partners and Boeing employees gathered at its Integrated Defense Systems facilities in Wichita. The ceremony highlighted the following accomplishments: The Airborne Laser team in Wichita fully integrated the Lockheed Martin-designed beam control/fire control system inside the ABL aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400F....

ST. LOUIS, June 26, 2006 -- A Boeing-led [NYSE: BA] industry team and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) took a major step toward demonstrating the capability of the Airborne Laser (ABL) by successfully firing surrogate lasers from inside the aircraft. During recent ground tests at Boeing facilities in Wichita, Kan., the team placed the lasers in the ABL aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400F, and fired them repeatedly into a measuring device called a range simulator. The tests verified that the ABL team properly aligned the optical beam train, a series of optical components, steering and deformable mirrors, and sensors...

Airborne Laser given a reprieve — and challenging development schedule The threat of cancellation no longer looms over the Pentagon's Airborne Laser 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 Airborne Laser in 2006 so that senior Missile Defense Agency officials will be able to measure its progress, according to Air Force Col. John Daniels, the effort's program director. The Airborne Laser, or ABL, is a Boeing 747 aircraft being equipped with a high-powered chemical laser to...

The threat of cancellation no longer looms over the Pentagon’s Airborne Laser (ABL) effort, but senior program officials said they are taking nothing for granted as they prepare for a missile-intercept demonstration in 2008. Several clear 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, Chicago, is the prime contactor....

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 23, 2006 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] Missile Defense Systems (MDS) has taken delivery of the aircraft for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program, achieving the first of several key milestones in the laser gunship effort. The C-130H transport, which belongs to the U.S. Air Force's 46th Test Wing, was handed over to Boeing on Jan. 18 in Crestview, Fla., near Eglin Air Force Base. Boeing is modifying the aircraft to enable it to carry a high-energy chemical laser and battle management and beam control subsystems. Boeing will begin flight testing the aircraft this summer with all subsystems...

Airborne Laser Completes Laser Ground Tests ST. LOUIS, Dec. 12, 2005 -- The Boeing-led [NYSE: BA] Airborne Laser team announced today the successful completion of a series of tests involving its high energy laser at the Systems Integration Lab at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. During this test series, lasing duration and power were demonstrated at levels suitable for the destruction of multiple classes of ballistic missiles. This is the second of two program significant knowledge points planned for 2005. Airborne Laser's (ABL) megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) is designed and built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC). Lasing...

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 12, 2005 -- The Boeing-led [NYSE: BA] Airborne Laser team announced today the successful completion of a series of tests involving its high energy laser at the Systems Integration Lab at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. During this test series, lasing duration and power were demonstrated at levels suitable for the destruction of multiple classes of ballistic missiles. This is the second of two program significant knowledge points planned for 2005. Airborne Laser's (ABL) megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) is designed and built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC). Lasing tests included more than 70 separate...

WASHINGTON -- Boeing has completed passive flight testing of its missile-killing Airborne Laser, or ABL, the company announced Wednesday. Now the program to install a missile-killing laser into a Boeing 747 will move back to Wichita, Kan., after the latest round of tests, which were conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Boeing Integrated Defense System Wichita originally modified a 747 for the Airborne Laser program that is designed to detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles. The system utilizes a megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine laser. The recently completed flight tests measured the aircraft's ability to identify and track targets,...