The flight-weighted laser module is the fundamental "building block" for the high-energy laser that will be used on the 747-based airborne laser system - also known as the YAL-1A Attack Laser - to defend civilians and military assets against attack by theater ballistic missiles.

"This 'first light' test is the latest in a series of successful risk reduction activities by Team ABL [Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin] that has kept the ABL program on cost and on schedule without encountering any technical show stoppers," said Col. Mike Booen, director of the Air Forcešs Airborne Laser program.

"This first lasing test of the flight-weighted laser module represents the fulfillment of a promise that Northrop Grumman and Team ABL made to the Air Force in November 1996," said Joanne Maguire, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Space & Laser Programs Division in Redondo Beach, Calif. "It represents the culmination of a truly dedicated effort by the laser integrated product team from Northrop Grumman, Boeing and the Air Force."

"The flight-weighted laser module first-light test is the beginning of a series of laser performance tests dedicated to reducing the technical risk of the ABL program," said Paul Shennum, Boeing vice president and director of Team ABL. "The test data will provide valuable information for the Air Force's first 'authority-to-proceed' milestone for the ABL program."

Maguire termed the recent lasing success "an excellent first test. It proved that the flight-weighted laser module hardware and operating procedures work," she said. "Now we can begin the process of optimizing the laser operating conditions to achieve the required performance and laser characteristics."

The tests were performed as part of a $1.1 billion program definition and risk reduction contract awarded to Team ABL in November 1996 by the Air Force at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

The Airborne Laser system will use a megawatt-class chemical oxygen-iodine laser mounted in a 747-400F freighter aircraft to shoot down theater ballistic missiles in their boost phase. It will protect civilians and key military assets from the existing threat of attack by missiles such as the Scuds used by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, which are proliferating worldwide.

Team ABL's current contract with the Air Force calls for the team to produce, integrate and flight-test a prototype Airborne Laser demonstration system. The contract is scheduled to culminate in 2002 with a boost-phase shoot-down of a theater ballistic missile. An Airborne Laser engineering, manufacturing and development program could begin as early as 2003. The prototype aircraft could provide the Air Force with a residual operational capability.

Team ABL is led by Boeing, which has overall program management management and systems integration responsibilities. The company is also developing the ABL battle management system and modifying the 747-400 aircraft. Those efforts will be done at Boeing facilities in Seattle, Wash. and Wichita, Kan. Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, Calif., is building the laser and the related ground-support subsystem, while Lockheed Martin in Palo Alto, Calif., is developing the ABL target acquisition and beam control Systems.