U.S. Fires Missile Defense Laser From Aircraft

A U.S. defense contractor on Sunday conducted the first test-firing of a missile defense laser while it was installed in the aircraft that would carry it, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 29).

The aircraft remained on the ground as Boeing fired the Airborne Laser, which is designed to destroy any type of ballistic missile flying in its boost phase.  A modified 747-400F jumbo jet is used to hold the laser.

Boeing plans to carry out longer, higher-power test-firings with the laser before conducting flight tests of the device.

"The program remains on track to reach the missile shoot-down demonstration planned for 2009," said Scott Fancher, Boeing vice president and head of the company’s missile defense division (Associated Press I/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sept. 9).

Boeing yesterday said it worried that U.S. lawmakers might approve up to $42.6 million in cuts to the Airborne Laser program in the upcoming federal budget, AP reported.

The House Armed Services Committee backed the reduced spending authorization for the program.  The House Appropriations Committee had recommended a cut of just $15.7 million to the Missile Defense Agency’s request of $421 million for fiscal 2009.

"It would be a shame to mark even a small amount of the president's budget request … every dollar is very important," said Boeing Vice President and Program Director Mark Rinn.

Lawmakers and the Defense Department plan to withhold most funding for a second laser aircraft until the current experimental technology proves its efficacy.

The effort has cost about $4 billion since beginning in 1998 and the total price tag could reach $5 billion, Missile Defense Agency spokesman Richard Lehner said (Donna Borak, Associated Press II/Seattle Times, Sept. 10).

Meanwhile, the United States plans to target a mock enemy missile with two interceptors for the first time in a test next week, KGMB9 News reported yesterday.

The interceptors are expected to be launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and target a missile fired from a ship.

"The intercept will occur in space and the trailing interceptor will actually see the intercept of the first interceptor," said Col. William Lamb, head of the Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense program. 

"You want to ensure that there's absolutely no chance that that debris could fall either on island at Kauai or anywhere close to it.   So the wind is probably the only significant concern that we have from a conditions perspective,” he said (KGMB9, Sept. 9).

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