This article first appeared at AviationWeek.com.
[Editor’s note: You all know I’ve been a grudging supporter of the ABL, even if there’s no money for it. All I’ll say is it’ll be exciting to see this thing actually work. Thanks from our friends at Aviation Week.]
Longer duration firings of the high-energy laser on board the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Boeing 747 airborne laser (ABL) are getting underway following the completion of the “first light” initial firing milestone onboard the aircraft in a ground test on Sept. 7.
The test, conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., lasted only a “fraction of a second” says a spokesman for Northrop Grumman, the makers of the Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL). But this was long enough to prove “the laser is ready to demonstrate power output sufficient to destroy a ballistic missile in flight,” he adds.
The COIL test marked “Knowledge Point 6″ for the ABL program and came after a series of activation tests that began late last year. The work paves the way for “Knowledge Point 7,” which will involve firing the laser through the system’s Lockheed Martin-developed beam control/fire control system and out of the nose-mounted turret. This is targeted for the end of the year and is a crucial milestone towards an airborne intercept test against a ballistic missile, which ABL prime contractor Boeing says remains “on track” for around August 2009.
The COIL laser test was conducted under simulated flight conditions with fuel being supplied by onboard chemical tanks, and the laser itself subject to “atmospheric conditions consistent with those at the altitude at which the aircraft will fly,” Northrop Grumman says. The “first light” test involved firing the laser into an onboard metallic calorimeter, or “beam dump,” which measures the power of the beam by measuring heat rise in the metal.
Read the rest of this story, learn why the IAF grounded its snakes, see the new Swiss Army Knife and check out NorGrum’s long range bomber from our Aviation Week friends exclusively on Military.com.
– Christian
its funny how the programs that dont have big budgets always perform above expectations.maybe we shouldnt slather on all the big bucks to these companys and theyll perform.
I’m just dreaming the damage a CH47D Chinook with an internal laser firing out the rear could do to a communications array from 10,000 feet at a hover. You wouldn’t even need targeting software. Just a scope and a gunner since there is no ballistic drop.
Mmmm invisible pinpoint carnage.
“its funny how the programs that dont have big budgets always perform above expectations.maybe we shouldnt slather on all the big bucks to these companys and theyll perform.“
The ABL program is years behind schedule and going way over budget. Aside from being a total non-starter, the per unit cost is supposed to be 1 Billion. What a waste.
->Markus Wolf
And just how is creating a laser defense against Nuclear Annihilation a waste of money? I suppose your preference is for all Americans to buy umbrellas and hope for the best.
Blame the on-again off-again funding spigot for a lot of the schedule and budget creep. This weapon system is still a tremendous tech challenge –can you fathom how hard it was at the start? I discussed this project over 16 years ago with a young Chief at a manpower conference who was the Superintendent of a small batch of techs working the laser part of it. She was almost as impressive as the task she was dealing with.
$1B unit cost? One can only hope. With C-17 trash haulers at $200M per, I’d call $1B a bargain at thrice the price. But then again, I’m balancing that $1B against the value of stopping one small nuke from taking out Seattle, San Francisco, Miami, etcetera, etcetera.
Kudos to those who are pushing this project. This effort may be superceded by newer technology fairly quickly, but a lot of the newer technology wouldn’t have materialized without lessons learned on this program.
The technology we possess with ABL and our Ballistic Missile Interceptors are “game changers” and both the Chinese and the Russians know it and both are at least a decade or more behind. The question is “What do you do when the only real power you possess (nuclear tipped ballistic missiles) are with-in 5 years of being another obsolete weapon system and an expensive one at that? These systems will place increasingly more pressure on both (as well as other states) to make a play for increased natural resources (territory) as these resources will play a larger role in future power status. It is going to start to get real interesting!!
I wasn’t thinking of a ch-47, I was thinking of fleet defense off a small ship with the v-22 Osprey spotting a cruise missle heading from Iran towards the Lincoln & getting really hot on the nosecone and having rapid radar failure and flight computer failure and flight failure, and a smiling crew of a V-22 heading back for a tin can with one of the six modules of the ABL on the cargo deck out of iodine.
“Game changer”? One day they might be able to take out a single missile with the ABL, if they can get close enough to the launch point (it’s only for boost phase), if the weather is good and the one plane is in the right place at the right time. So long as there are no countermeasures, that is.
You’re talking mroe like $9bn IIRC, and they won;t have an operational system at the end of it under current plans.
the only reason this program and the ABM systems are behind schedule is democrat defeatists.had the democrats not delayed these two programs they would be deployed by now.
“And just how is creating a laser defense against Nuclear Annihilation a waste of money?“
Even if all the technical problems are overcome, how is this thing going to be deployed? How are we going to know when a missile will be fired? Or do we have ABLs circling 24/7 near the bad guys? Think of the number of tankers needed to support this thing. All of which needs to be escorted by fighters and probably AWACS. Oh yeah then you need a backup ABL too just in case, you only get one shot.
As I said the whole concept is a non starter and a huge waste of money and resources.
“As I said the whole concept is a non starter and a huge waste of money and resources.
Posted by: Markus Wolf at September 13, 2008 01:56 PM“
History will be the decider, not you.
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