Boeing Airborne Laser Successfully Activates High-Energy Laser

The company said the test was the final stage of the first full ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft.

Boeing is the prime integrator for the ABL program. The company said the test was carried out at Edwards Air Force Base in California by its industry teammates and by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

In the test, the laser beam traveled through the beam control/fire control system before exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret. The beam control/fire control system steered and focused the beam onto a simulated ballistic-missile target, the company said.

This test is significant because it demonstrated that the Airborne Laser missile defense program has successfully integrated the entire weapon system aboard the ABL aircraft, said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

With the achievement of the first firing of the laser aboard the aircraft in September, the team has now completed the two major milestones it hoped to accomplish in 2008, keeping ABL on track to conduct the missile shoot-down demonstration planned for next year, Fancher said.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Boeing_Airborne_Laser_Successfully_Activates_High-Energy_Laser_999.html

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