Where the Computers Yell "Fire!"
The ABL Battle Management System
The name is a mouthful: Battle Management, Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence, better known as BMC4I, or simply "battle management." But the job is straightforward: Find and track boosting enemy missiles, select which missile to target and when to blast it with the Airborne Laser's (ABL) megawatt-class killer laser.
When the target is one of many warhead-tipped, rocket-propelled cylinders traveling at 1,500 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second, there is no time for human participation; it all has to be controlled by computers. However, humans aren't totally out of the loop. While computers control the process, ABL crewmembers provide the limits under which the system operates on automatic mode and constantly monitor operations so they can intervene if necessary.
On the ABL, "battle management" is divided among four consoles (there are eight on the first aircraft because four are dedicated to collecting test data), a Mission Data Processor (MDP), and a sophisticated communication system that includes Link 16, an audio hook-up that allows ABL to interact with other military units in and out of the battle zone. This equipment is spread around the aircraft, both interior and exterior, but the consoles
(left) and other sensitive pieces of hardware are located over the wings on the main level of the extensively modified Boeing 747-400 Freighter.
Weapon system crewmembers -- a mission commander, an airborne surveillance officer, a weapon system officer, and a special equipment operator -- primarily play the roles of computer watchers once ABL enters the battle zone. The more active roles are fulfilled by the major BMC4I components: the six Infrared Search and Track (IRST) units placed strategically around the exterior of the aircraft; the Active Ranging System (ARS), a continuous wave, carbon-dioxide laser located on the top of the "hump;" the MDP, and the consoles, each of which was built from off-the-shelf hardware. The software, however, was written specifically to meet ABL's needs.
BMC4I 's participation begins before takeoff with the creation of a mission plan. While ABL is still on the ground, operators input information to help in the missile detection, tracking and targeting process.
Data used to help create the mission plan include intelligence on missiles of a certain type located in a specific area within ABL's operational zone, or details about a friendly area that is on the top of the "defend" list. Mission planning information can be modified in flight.
Once ABL moves into attack range, the system is enabled in automatic mode. A typical mission is designed to work this way:
- Heat-seeking IRSTs detect the plume of a launching missile;
- The system transfers this data to the ARS, which provides range, speed and acceleration information;
- The MDP calculates the missile's rough track, estimates its launch point, and determines if it is a potential target;
- The system provides refined information (including probable impact point), initiates the engagement sequence by locking onto the target, and prepares the killer laser to fire;
- Once the target missile has been destroyed, BMC4I evaluates system performance and prioritizes remaining missiles
BMC4I was the first of ABL's major systems to be installed and flight tested on the aircraft. It was aboard and essentially complete when the aircraft -- prototYpe Attack Laser model 1-A (YAL-1A)-- made its maiden flight in July, 2002. It was repeatedly tested ? first against the fiery plumes of F-16 afterburners, then a boosting Lance missile, and finally against a staging Minuteman II missile in a test over the Pacific Ocean in December 2002 ? before YAL-1A was housed in a hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in California in preparation for the installation of the lasers and optical systems.
While YAL-1A is in the hangar at Edwards, tests will be conducted independently on the ABL optical system and the six laser modules that will make up the complete COIL system. Once those systems have been proven effective they will be installed on YAL 1-A in preparation for a series of rigorous chain of ground and air tests of the entire ABL configuration. These tests will include a re-examination of BMC4I against a variety of targets. Initial tests will culminate with the shootdown of a ballistic missile over the Pacific.