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Airborne Laser Test Succeeds
A U.S. defense contractor activated a chemical laser for the first time Wednesday that is intended to serve as component in U.S. missile defenses. The test was a significant step in developing the Airborne Laser that the Bush administration hopes someday could be used to shoot down enemy missiles soon after they are launched (see GSN, Nov. 4). “It lasted only a fraction of a second, but the important thing is we got the photons, which proves the laser works,” Ken Englade, an official with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency ABL program, told the Los Angeles Times. “It came at a very good time, because people were saying it wasn’t going to work.” Engineers with Northrop Grumman Corp. in coming months hope to increase the laser’s intensity and firing time to the point where it could hit a ballistic missile at a distance of more than 200 miles, the Times reported today. Wednesday’s ground-based test involved producing a laser burst from chemicals in six large modules placed in a 747-jet fuselage at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The laser will later be moved to a 747 that has a laser-firing turret. Continued obstacles to the program include the potential for bad weather to impair the laser’s accuracy and the vulnerability of the laser-carrying jets to attack, critics say. “They still have a long way to go, but this is a big milestone,” said Philip Coyle, a former Pentagon official who has been critical of the missile defense program (Peter Pae, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12).
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