GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is to test a Boeing-developed Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) for possible airborne application on platforms ranging from the Bell Boeing V-22 to the Lockheed Martin AC-130 gunship.
Work on the ATL, a smaller, self-contained version of the TRW chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) under development for the747-based AL-1A Airborne Laser (ABL) programme, has begun under a $11.9 million advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) contract.
The tests could lead to operational deployment as early as 2005, says Donald Shoffstall, chief technologist and director advanced programmes, Boeing Missile Defense Systems.
Although the ACTD is focused on a 15km (8nm)-range weapon, the potential operational system will have a range of "several tens of kilometres". Tests will analyse "lasers versus guns", although Shoffstall adds: "They will probably find a realm of co-existence." Although initial contract talks surrounded evaluation on the V-22, "the platform of choice is the C-130," he adds. Unlike the larger ABL, the ATL will have sealed exhausts, allowing the laser's installation as a self-contained weapon.
The pulsed laser, with uncooled optics, will operate in the near infrared at a 1.3µm wavelength, making it invisible to the naked eye. This, combined with the stand-off range, will mean targets would "never know what hit them", says Shoffstall.
ATL is intended for operations in an urban or suburban environment where it would mitigate collateral damage and deliver non-lethal or lethal force. Shoffstall adds the ATL could also be used for long-range target designation, which would "take a lot of the pressure off current designation methods".
Source: Flight International
