Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
December 4, 2008
IWG Report 2007
Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
Search
Home :: Missile Defense Systems
Airborne Laser (ABL)
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| Basing: | Air |
Details
The Airborne Laser (ABL) is among the largest and most complex of the Missile Defense Agency’s high-energy laser projects. Once operational, ABL will consist of a chemical laser integrated into the fuselage of a modified Boeing 747-400F freighter aircraft. The system will be capable of eliminating ballistic missiles in their boost phase just seconds after they have been launched.
The project began in 1996 when MDA and the U.S. Air Force awarded a $1.3 billion contract to “Team ABL,” including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. The project is currently in the design and development phase. Upon completion, ABL will be able to detect, target, and destroy hostile missiles completely on its own, i.e. without the help of radar, satellites, or ground-based command centers. The U.S. Air Force eventually plans to deploy a fleet of seven modified Boeing 747s around the globe.
Controlled by a four-man team, each 747 will operate at altitudes of 40,000 feet or higher. Six infrared sensors positioned on the outside of the 747 (one each on the front and rear and two on each side) will give ABL the ability to scan the horizon for threats. Once a hostile missile has been detected, ABL’s three tracking lasers will illuminate the target and calculate its course and direction. The first laser will lock on to the missile and provide detailed tracking information. The second will determine the aimpoint of the target. The third will measure the amount of atmospheric disturbance between the 747 and the missile so that computers and deformable mirrors can compensate for the amount of refraction the laser beam will encounter on its way to the target.
Finally, the ABL will fire its high-energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) from a turret located in the 747’s nose. The COIL will combine common industrial chemicals (hydrogen peroxide, potassium hydroxide, chlorine gas, water) to create its lethal beam. ABL’s beam control/fire control system will maintain the strength and direction of the beam as it travels through the atmosphere. A three- to five-second burst will heat the missile’s metal skin until it cracks. Since the missile’s interior is pressurized during launch, the crack will expand rapidly into a tear and the fuel will explode, causing the missile to disintegrate over its launch site.
The ABL project is currently moving forward in two-year development “blocks.” On July 18, 2002, the prototype 747, known as YAL-1A, made its first test flight. The current phase, Block 2004, will lead up to a demonstration of ABL’s ability to intercept a short-range ballistic missile, most likely over the Pacific Ocean. Block 2006 will involve the deployment of the Block 2004 aircraft, which will be analyzed for integration with the overall Ballistic Missile Defense System and tested for emergency capability. In the Block 2008 period, the program will build a second 747 and focus its efforts on upgrades and affordability.
At present, however, the ABL program is running behind schedule. A report released by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) on April 23, 2004 found that four out of six major tests scheduled for 2003 were either deferred or delayed. The Block 2004 demonstration, which will determine whether or not ABL is capable of destroying a live target, has been pushed back to February 2005 at the earliest. The GAO report also found that ABL has exceeded its intended $11 billion budget. The program has incurred about $1 billion in overruns since 1996, and the GAO estimates that ABL will add another $1 billion in extra costs before the system is ready for testing.
The main reason for these delays and cost overruns is the problem of “jitter,” or small vibrations that occur naturally in a 747 aircraft due to turbulence or the hum of its engines. “Jitter” is typical under normal flight conditions, but these small vibrations have a detrimental effect on a laser weapons such as ABL’s COIL, which must focus a high-powered beam of light on a rapidly moving target and maintain the beam’s intensity no matter the circumstances. For this reason, the stabilization of the laser is essential, and the program cannot move forward until Team ABL perfects its beam control/fire control system, which is designed to compensate for “jitter.”
Due to the project’s increased visibility as a result of these delays and cost overruns, the ABL program has become a test of the maturity and feasibility of MDA’s other high-energy laser programs. Its success or failure will have a direct effect on the amount of future dollars spent on the research and development of additional laser weapons, such as the highly promising Space-Based Laser (SBL).
Sources
The Boeing Company.
Federation of American Scientists.
GlobalSecurity.org.
Lamberson, Donald L., Edward Duff, Don Washburn, and Courtney Holmberg. “Whither High-Energy Lasers?” Air & Space Power Journal, 1 April 2004.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
Missile Defense Agency.
Navrot, Miguel. “Anti-Missile Laser Program at Kirtland Faulted.” Albuquerque Journal, 24 April 2004.
Navrot, Miguel. “Anti-Missile Plane Overruns Go On.” Albuquerque Journal, 2 April 2004.
Northrop Grumman Space Technology.
Rees, Elizabeth. “‘Jitter’ A Huge Risk For Block 2004 Airborne Laser Capability, GAO Warns.” Inside the Air Force, 30 April 2004.
Selinger, Marc. “Airborne Laser’s Overruns Could Reach $2 Billion, Senator Says.” Aerospace Daily, 12 March 2004.
Israel Develops Super Laser
The Ben Gurion University in Israel has apparently developed what is being called a super chemical laser, far more efficient and powerful than previous models. The Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser is touted as having beaten similar programs in other countries for its efficency and, perhaps most importantly, its small size. The Ben Gurion model uses nitrogen as a dilutent, rather than helium, as does other chemical lasers.
Significant improvements in laser technology would be a significant boost to missile defense programs in general. Lasers are of particular importance due to their speed in interception, which easily overcomes the speed of ballistic missiles and permits boost phase interception, when missiles are most vulnerable. Laser advances would benefit not only to Israeli anti-missile programs such as Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), but the U.S. Air Borne Laser (ABL) program as well, not to mention better space-based laser programs yet to be developed. The laser of the ABL, for example, takes up the majority of a Boeing 747.
» Air Borne Laser program description
» More stories on: Space-Based Systems, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
China’s Laser Weapons Possible Threat to Taiwan
China may have a laser weapon, similar in concept to the United States’ air-borne laser (ABL), which they can and may be deploying near Taiwan, in addition to their buildup of short range ballistic missiles.
The Taipei Times cites Taiwanese defense sources that the laser cannon, with a range over 100km—again, comparable to the ABL—has been deployed in Fujian Province facing Taiwan, and that it could be used to disable military command and control systems. One defense official, however, noted that the cannon may only still be in development: “We tend to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We would rather believe that China has already developed such a weapon and that we should start making preparations as soon as possible.” The Times notes that the United States and Israel have developed laser weapons—the ABL and the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)—but these are used as anti-missile defense systems. It is, however, plausible that the Chinese system is designed to have an anti-missile defense capability.
» June 7, 2000: First THEL intercept
» More stories on: China, Taiwan, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Scientists Issue Report on Boost Phase Systems
Scientists with the American Physical Society issue a report on the technological limitations of systems such as the air-borne laser to effectively intercept missiles during their most vulnerable stage of flight, the boost phase. This report points to the admitted problems of such half-hearted systems such as the ABL which has a very limited range, while ignoring the potential and desirable solution of space-based lasers.
» American Physical Society Boost Phase Report
» Scientist Richard Garwin disputes APS report’s contention boost phase missile defense is impractical
» More stories on: Air, Policy, Space-Based Systems, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
Popular Science: Dawn of the Air Borne Laser
Popular Science magazine presents an inside-look at the Air-Borne Laser missile defense system.
Here’s how it will happen: Six infrared sensors positioned on the fuselage will constantly scan all directions for hot missile exhaust plumes, which they can do autonomously or at the prompt of launch-detecting satellites. When one, or several, is located, the ABL’s multiple separate lasers will swing into action—-all within seconds. A laser ranging pod atop the plane’s cockpit, right now almost four stories above us as we stand on the ground, will spin around to face the first missile—-the one the computer has determined is most threatening —-and measure its distance with a carbon dioxide laser. The track illuminator laser, fired through the 12-inch aperture of the Wall of Fire and into the nose turret, will compensate for aircraft vibration and then pinpoint a specific area of the missile to aim at. The beacon illuminator laser, also fired through the nose turret, where a cassegrain reflector telescope expands the beam’s dimensions to 1.5 meters, will then use the beam-and fire- control unit’s adaptive optics to characterize the missile’s dimensions. (These optics, standard equipment on all the ABL’s turret-fired lasers, extend their range with mirror-flexing technology to compensate for atmospheric turbulence.) Finally, the computer will fire the high-energy laser, which will focus down from 1.5 meters in diameter to a much smaller spot of light by the time it reaches the target. As the laser dwells on the missile’s flank for 2 or 3 seconds, the oxidizer or fuel tank will rupture and the missile will explode.
The article quotes Ted Postel, longtime opponent of missile defenses, with some interesting observations about the ABL:
Others think the laser itself will work but could fail in its prime mission; in other words, that the ABL may be better suited for attacking long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellites than short-range weapons that operate within relatively compact geographic areas. “Theater ballistic missiles have shorter-powered flight time at lower altitudes where the atmosphere is denser,” says Ted Postol, a professor of science, technology and national security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Going against an ICBM would be easier because the missile undergoes longer-powered flight, and the intercept would occur in less atmosphere.”
Postel’s observation is interesting for the following reason: he points out the weaknesses of the ABL—incidentally begun under the Clinton administration as an excuse for not doing more serious missile defenses—and in so doing makes the case for other systems which would be more effective. Longer range ICBMs are indeed more vulnerable than shorter theater ballistic missiles, but for this very reason a space based laser would make additional sense.
» More stories on: Air, Policy, Technology
» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)
 | |
| Total Records: 14 | « 1 [2] |
|---|---|
Home :: Missile Defense Systems
