By Marina Malenic
The Defense Department plans to use a modified 747 aircraft containing a high-energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) to test and study a variety of laser weapon concepts, with solid-state lasers emerging as a promising option, a top Pentagon official said yesterday.
The Missile Defense Agency manages the Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) program, an effort aimed at shooting down enemy ballistic missiles in their boost phase.
“We’re looking at using that platform to validate other high-powered-laser concepts,” said Zachary Lemnios, who directs the Pentagon’s Defense Research and Engineering office. “We have a number of projects under way at the energy labs, and [there is] also funding…to look at high-powered solid-state lasers that would offer similar performance as” the COIL laser on the ALTB.
Lemnios was speaking to reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington.
Solid-state lasers require only electricity to operate. The COIL system, by contrast, uses dangerous chemical reactions as fuel. However, solid-state lasers are not yet efficient enough to achieve the necessary power levels required for weaponization. One possible solution is a combination of solid-state laser technology with elements of a gas laser, an option currently being explored at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“I think we’re going to see tens if not hundreds of kilowatts in solid-state lasers over the next six or eight months,” Lemnios said.
“I think you will start seeing those in form factors that would allow you to put those lasers on much, much smaller platforms than a 747,” he added.
Last year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates cut funding for an operational Airborne Laser program and designated the sole existing airplane a research project.
Lemnios said he sees ALTB purely as a “test bed to validate technology concepts.”
“I’m looking at it as a remarkable physics experiment,” he said. “Operationally, it was a challenge, so we’re transitioning that airplane into a test bed as opposed to an operational asset.”
In February, the ALTB demonstrated that a directed energy weapon can engage and destroy a ballistic missile in flight during its boost phase (Defense Daily, Feb. 16).
Another test planned for Aug. 17 has been delayed, officials said this week. The exercise had already been postponed twice before due to technical difficulties (Defense Daily, Aug. 18). Additional tests against missile targets are tentatively scheduled for next year.
ALTB is based at Edwards AFB, Calif., and tests are conducted over the Pacific Ocean off Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Calif.
Boeing [BA] is the prime contractor, providing the airplane, battle management system and systems integration. Northrop Grumman [NOC] designed and built the COIL, and Lockheed Martin [LMT] developed the beam control/fire control system.