Flight testing of the Boeing-led Airborne Laser (ABL), designed to shoot down ballistic missiles during the boost phase, will be delayed by at least a year because of Congressional funding cuts, according to senior US Air Force officials.
A new Boeing 747-400F, designated YAL-1A, was to be modified this year for flight tests due in 2002. The USAF says the reduced funding will delay until 2003 the planned shoot-down of a theatre ballistic missile in its boost phase. The US Department of Defense is seeking $309 million for ABL research in its fiscal year 2000 budget request. US lawmakers slashed $25 million from the $292 million requested by the USAF for ABL research and development efforts during FY1999.
Boeing is teamed with Lockheed Martin and TRW for the ABL project, with Lockheed Martin responsible for the beam control/ fire control device, and TRW in charge of the chemical oxygen-iodine laser weapon.
Lockheed Martin says that recent tests of high-speed computer processors demonstrate the performance required to manage information needed to control the high-energy laser weapon. A key issue is that of processing vast amounts of atmospheric and target information in a short time.
The company says that the tests validated architecture and design concepts for handling large amounts of data, allowing Lockheed Martin to begin integrating hardware and software.
The contractors are in the middle of the 77-month $1.1 billion programme definition and risk-reduction phase, preparing to flight test an ABL prototype. An ABL engineering and manufacturing development effort, which provides a second demonstrator, could begin as early as 2004.
Given a production go-ahead, five other systems would follow, making a total of seven. The first two would be upgraded to the final configuration. Three would be operational in the FY2006 timeframe, with all seven fielded two years later. The contractors stand to earn as much as $6 billion if the project goes ahead.
Source: Flight International