Flying laser zaps missile in first for U.S.

By Jim Wolf

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61B18C20100212?pageNumber=1

WASHINGTON | Fri Feb 12, 2010 5:40pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A high-powered laser aboard a modified Boeing Co 747

jumbo jet shot down an in-flight ballistic missile for the first time, highlighting a new
class of ray guns best known from science fiction.

The flying laser's long-awaited test on Thursday showcased a potential to zap multiple
targets at the speed of light and at a range of hundreds of kilometers, the Pentagon's
Missile Defense Agency said in a statement.

"The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to
defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully
destroyed a boosting ballistic missile," the agency said.

"The revolutionary use of directed energy is very attractive for missile defense," the
statement added.

It cited among other things a low cost per intercept compared with other technologies
used to defeat missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear
warheads.

Directed energy weapons use highly focused rays to attack a target rather than
chemical-powered arms. Those in control can tweak the strength involved, unlike a
bullet or a bomb, allowing for less-than-lethal uses.
Lasers are well known from science fiction as a type of ray gun. In the real world, they
are used for sighting, ranging and targeting for guns.

The experiment marked both the first time a laser weapon has destroyed a ballistic
missile and the first time any system has accomplished it in the missile's boost phase of
flight.

A boosting missile is easiest to track because its exhaust is bright and hot, but the
window lasts only from one to five minutes, meaning the interceptor must be in close
proximity.

The modified 747-400F jumbo jet took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California in
an experiment that was unannounced before the outcome was made known early
Friday.

A short-range ballistic missile was launched from an at-sea mobile launch platform off
Point Mugu on the central California coast, the agency said.

Within seconds, the Airborne Laser used on board sensors to detect the missile, then a
low-energy laser to track it.

After firing another laser to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbance, on
went its megawatt-class high-energy laser, "heating the boosting ballistic missile to
critical structural failure," the agency said.

The engagement took place within two minutes of the target missile's launch while its
rocket motors were still thrusting, the agency said.

Boeing, the prime contractor and system integrator, said: "With this successful
experiment, the Airborne Laser Testbed has blazed a path for a new generation of high-
energy, ultra-precision weaponry."

Michael Rinn, Boeing's program director, said in a statement: "ALTB technology and
future directed-energy platforms will transform how the United States defends itself and
its friends and allies."

The successful test prompted calls for the Pentagon to restore funding for further
development of the Airborne Laser, which President Barack Obama turned into a kind of
science experiment last year rather than a development program headed for
deployment.

"This defense project should be made ready to protect our homeland at a moment's
notice," said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Republican from Kansas, where Boeing had been
expected to do modification work on the Airborne laser.

Riki Ellison of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a nonprofit funded partly by
defense contractors, said the United States had spent about $5 billion on the Airborne
Laser's development since the early 1990s.
"Why would the US Congress and the Department of Defense not fully fund and further
develop this system to have it ready to deploy to give our armed forces and allies
protection against Iran and North Korea," he said in an email interview.

John Pike, director of GlobbalSecurity.org, a military information website, said the test
had not proven anything to him about the system's real-world value.

"The question is whether it can shoot down targets at long range and this test didn't
answer the question," he said.

Northrop Grumman Corp designed and built the higher-energy laser and Lockheed
Martin Corp supplied the beam- and fire-control systems.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Andre Grenon)