The US Air Force has selected three companies to begin work on the strategic illumination laser (SILL), which could be used to target future high-energy laser weapons. General Atomics, Northrop Grumman and Textron have been awarded four-month contracts to produce conceptual designs for the SILL, a 4kW-class, solid-state pulsed laser with high beam quality.
The SILL is a follow-on to the 2kW-class beacon illuminator developed by Northrop Grumman for the USAF's Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser. "The SILL will provide the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) with a higher-power illuminator laser, a critical component of systems such as the Airborne Laser," says Jackie Gish, director of directed-energy technology at Northrop Grumman Space Technology.
The USAF plans to select one contractor to develop and deliver, in 2006, a flight-qualifiable brassboard laser illuminator. Although the MDA has closed its Space-Based Laser programme office, the SILL requirement includes a development path to space applications of the illuminator.
Source: Flight International