Figure 3. Airborne Laser (ABL) is an aircraft-mounted laser weapon system that is capable of destroying chemical, biological, and nuclear missiles almost immediately after launch and before they would pose a threat to civilian populations and military assets. This beam control system provides autonomous acquisition, pointing, and tracking capabilities against the theater ballistic missiles. CREDIT : Lockheed Martin photo

Figure 1. Airborne Laser (ABL) is a laser weapon system, mounted on a 747 aircraft, that is capable of destroying chemical, biological, and nuclear missiles almost immediately after launch. ABL stops missiles before they could pose a threat to civilian populations and military assets. This beam control system provides autonomous acquisition, pointing, and tracking capabilities against the theater ballistic missiles. CREDIT : US Air Force Photo

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.8 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers.

Boeing Airborne Laser Team Rolls Out Modified Aircraft and Prepares for Flight Tests

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 27, 2006 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE:BA], along with industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, rolled out the Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft today from a modification facility in Wichita, Kan., during a ceremony marking major program achievements on several fronts.

Airborne Laser (ABL) - News Release

Contact at the Speed of Light - The Lasers that Make Up the Airborne Laser System



Team ABL Begins Fabrication Of Airborne Laser Turret

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 07, 2000 -- Team Airborne Laser (ABL) has begun fabrication of the ABL's revolutionary, high-energy laser weapon system turret assembly at Lockheed Martin Space Systems' Sunnyvale, Calif., facility.

Airborne Laser (ABL)

The Airborne Laser (ABL) will locate and track missiles in the boost phase of their flight, then accurately point and fire the high-energy laser, destroying enemy missiles near their launch areas.



Capabilities :

Operates autonomously, above the clouds, outside the range of threat weapons but sufficiently close to enemy territory

Engages early, destroying ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight over launch area

Cues and tracks targets, communicating with other joint theater assets for layered defense system



Unique Technology :

Nose-mounted turret with 1.5m telescope that focuses beams on missile and collects return image and signals

Beam Control System to acquire and track targets with precision accuracy



Look for further developments of the ABL as the global threat of ballistic missiles becomes ever more prevalent.

Boeing ABL Video

Laser & Electro-Optical Systems (LEOS)

Boeing has developed the LEOS High Energy Laser systems to address multiple defense needs and customers. Among the key LEOS programs are the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program and Relay Systems.



Boeing Acquires SVS, Inc. in Bid to Expand Laser and Optics Business

WEST HILLS, Calif. and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., June 27, 2000 -- The Boeing Company today announced that it is in negotiations to acquire SVS, Inc., of Albuquerque, N.M., a high technology company with nationally-recognized expertise in the electro-optical arena. The announcement was made by Mike Skolnick, vice president and general manager of the Laser & Electro Optical Systems (LEOS) unit of The Boeing Company.



"Boeing has made a major investment in the directed-energy marketplace, with its lead role in Airborne Laser, Space Based Laser and its development work in the laser and beam control technologies," Skolnick said. "SVS would bring critical and specialized capabilities to the company, not only in directed energy, but also in a wide range of electro-optical controls and image processing applications for both the defense and commercial markets."

Key Missile Defense Systems Programs

BY KERRY GILDEA

ADVANCED TACTICAL LASER (ATL) AND RELAY MIRRORS (ARMS)

In the high-energy laser market, Boeings Laser and Electro Optical Systems (L&EOS) is under contract to build a prototype ATL to target precise ground targets from the air. The ongoing ATL advanced concept technology demonstration program will provide a transition to a deployable ultra-precision strike capability. L&EOS also has started studies and is working with the government to demonstrate an Advanced Relay Mirror System (ARMS) concept by 2006.



AIRBORNE LASER

Boeing, the prime contractor on the Airborne Laser (ABL), is teamed with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. ABL places a megawatt high-energy laser on a Boeing 747-400 to shoot down ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight.



The Airborne Laser (ABL) team is conducting large-scale integration work on the aircraft and progressing toward the lasers first light and the systems full-scale lethality test. The aircraft has successfully completed a series of flight worthiness tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where it is undergoing extensive ground tests.



The Boeing ABL program office is in Seattle, Wash., with portions of the work done at the Boeing site in Wichita, Kan.



Boeing Awarded High Energy Laser System Testbed Contract

ST. LOUIS, July 28, 2003 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has been awarded a contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., for a mobile testbed to enable development of beam control and fire control solutions for tactical high energy laser weapon systems.



Airborne Laser Progress Continues as Northrop Grumman Runs Full-Power COIL Tests, Delivers Beacon Illuminator Laser

REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Jan. 4, 2006 -- Laser systems built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) for the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) continue to post solid progress with the completion of power and duration testing of the megawatt-class chemical laser and delivery of the Beacon Illuminator Laser (BILL).



The Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) is the world's most powerful directed energy weapon built for an airborne environment. The BILL, a high-power, solid-state laser, is essential to ABL's beam control/fire control system that "steers" COIL's beam as it propagates toward a target at 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light.



Airborne Laser Tests on Target

Having accomplished first light and first flight milestones at the end of 2004, the Boeing-led Airborne Laser (ABL) program has moved into the next phase of testing aimed at further validating the transformational weapon system as a critical component of the nation's multi-layered defense against the ballistic missile threat.



Boeing is the prime contractor and systems integrator of the ABL program that places a megawatt-class, high energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL), Beam & Fire Control and Battle Management system on a modified Boeing 747-400 aircraft to detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in the boost phase of flight. ABL also can pass information on launch site, target track and predicted impact point to other layers of the global ballistic missile defense system

Airborne Laser Window Exposed in Flight

The Boeing-led Airborne Laser (ABL) team exposed the aircrafts conformal window for the first time during flight, a maneuver necessary for the weapon system to complete its mission of shooting down an enemy ballistic missile during the boost phase of flight.



Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, in a May 20 statement, announced the ABL 1.7-meter conformal window had been successfully exposed. The exposure test, the MDA statement said, is an important part of the flight test series being conducted this year.



Obering also recently told reporters that the Airbone Laser has had some great successes and the system continues to improve as the MDAs primary boost phase defense system.



Boeing is prime contractor for the ABL system under contract to the MDA. The system consists of a megawatt-class, high-energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) installed on a Boeing 747-400F aircraft for the detection, tracking and destruction of ballistic missiles in the boost phase. ABL also can pass information on launch site, target track and predicted impact point to other layers of the global ballistic missile defense system.



Boeing Airborne Laser Team Achieves First Flight

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 03, 2004 -- The Boeing [NYSE: BA] Airborne Laser (ABL) team flew an aircraft equipped with the integrated battle management and Beam Control/Fire Control (BC/FC)systems for the first time at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Dec. 3.

Boeing is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the ABL weapon system, which places a megawatt-class, high-energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser on a Boeing 747-400F aircraft to detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in the boost phase of flight. ABL also can pass information on launch site, target track and predicted impact to other layers of the global ballistic missile defense system.

"This is a significant technological achievement in the ABL program and demonstrates the continued steady flow of progress we've been making." said Jim Evatt, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

The ABL aircraft conducted initial airworthiness and battle management testing in 2002 after extensive modification from a civil freighter to the first airborne platform to house a megawatt-class directed energy weapon system. Following those successful tests, it was delivered to Edwards AFB in late 2002 to begin further weapon systems installation.