The U.S. Defense Department is considering expanding the Airborne Laser’s prospective target list to include ICBMs, but a recent Pentagon analysis found that a “comprehensive” laser defense against ICBMs would require between 100 and 125 aircraft, Air Force Magazine reported this month (see GSN, Sept. 3).

The Pentagon has not yet made a decision about “the full application of ABL,” said program director Col. Ellen Pawlikowski.  She said that officials are considering the weapon for use in theater and national missile defense.  “We can contribute to both of those missions, in the boost phase,” she added.

To provide a “comprehensive” defense against nations with ICBMs, however, would require flying aircraft continuously in as many as 25 areas, according to a Pentagon official who has looked into a variety of missile defense architectures.  To maintain this defense, as many as 125 aircraft might be needed, according to the official.  A “highly capable” national defense would require 10-15 orbits, Air Force Magazine reported.

The Missile Defense Agency has only said it is planning to build seven Airborne Laser systems.

The laser system’s components will be integrated and installed this winter, and a ground test period is scheduled for spring 2004, Pawlikowski said.  Officials are currently working toward an intercept test by early summer 2005.

Officials have battled weight problems with the laser system, which Pawlikowski said came from inaccurate estimates.

“We’re getting ‘actuals’ in, as opposed to estimates,” she said, adding that the weight has added up to “far more than we had originally anticipated at critical design review” (John Tirpak, Air Force Magazine, September 2003).

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