Global Security Newswire

The prototype U.S. Airborne Laser aircraft on Tuesday successfully fired its missile-destroying weapon while in flight, the Missile Defense Agency announced (see GSN, Aug. 14).

"The test, 'First Light in Flight,' validates the high energy laser's ... ability to fire in an airborne environment," the agency said in a press release.

The converted Boeing 747-400F fired the chemical oxygen iodine laser into an "onboard calorimeter" after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California. The calorimeter provides performance measurements on the laser beam.

The firing test concluded the latest phase of Airborne Laser flight tests. The agency said work on the system continues ahead of the anticipated firing of the laser against a missile target later this year.

The laser would be used against ballistic missiles in their initial phase of flight. The Obama administration cut funding for a second ABL aircraft in its fiscal 2010 defense budget (U.S. Missile Defense Agency release, Aug. 19).