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 Boeing
has installed a 12,000 pound high-energy chemical laser module
on board a C-130H aircraft, as part of the US Air force Advanced
Tactical Laser (ATL) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration
(CTD) program. The module was moved into place aboard the aircraft
and aligned with the previously-installed beam control system,
which will direct the laser beam to its target. The aircraft
is being prepared to conduct a series of tests leading up to
a planned demonstration flight in 2008. (More...)
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| "Next
year, we will fire the laser at ground targets, demonstrating
the military utility of this transformational directed energy
weapon." said Scott Fancher, vice president and general
manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. The test team will
fire the laser through a rotating turret that extends through
the aircraft's belly. ATL, which Boeing is developing for the
U.S. Department of Defense, will destroy, damage or disable
targets with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions
on the battlefield and in urban operations.
The program achieved two other major milestones earlier this
year. "Low-power" flight tests were completed in June
at Kirtland; the ATL aircraft used its flight demonstration
hardware and a low-power laser to find and track moving and
stationary ground targets. The flight demonstration hardware
includes the beam control system; weapon system consoles, which
display high-resolution imagery and enable the tracking of targets;
and sensors. The low-power laser, a surrogate for the high-energy
laser, hit its intended target in each of more than a dozen
tests. Also, in late July, the high-energy laser concluded laboratory
testing at the Davis Advanced Laser Facility at Kirtland, demonstrating
reliable operations in more than 50 firings.
Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser industry team includes L-3
Communications/Brashear, which made the laser turret, and HYTEC,
Inc., which made various structural elements of the weapon system.
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