Within the last decade, ballistic missiles
- such as the Scuds used by Iraq during Desert Storm - have
emerged as major
threats to American
forces deployed abroad and allied nations as well. Ballistic
missile capabilities world-wide are shown
here.
As part
of a U.S. Air Force
effort to address the feasibility of an airborne laser system
for defense against those types of missiles, a team composed
of The Missile Defense
Agency (MDA), the U.S. Air
Force, Boeing, Northrop Grumman
and Lockheed
Martin is building an accurate, airborne, high-energy
laser. The laser weapon system will shoot down ballistic missiles
while they still are over the enemy's own territory.
The Airborne
Laser (ABL) weapon system will operate at altitudes above
the clouds where it can acquire and track missiles in boost
flight, and then accurately point and fire the laser with
such energy that the missile is destroyed before it can do
any harm.
ABL
will become the Boost Phase Intercept segment of the DoD's
"Layered" Missile Defense System.
ABL is one key part of a Department of Defense approach to
defending against ballistic missiles. The "layered"
system uses different weapons to kill ballistic missiles at
differing critical points in their launch trajectories.
