buglerbilly
12-02-10, 11:36 PM
Ares
A Defense Technology Blog
NEW: ABL PHOTOS from First Shootdown
Posted by Amy Butler at 2/12/2010 10:48 AM CST
FINALLY!!! What is eight years ... when ABL finally manages to shoot down a ballistic missile target?
The target was a liquid-fueled short-range ballistic missile. It was tracked within seconds and shot down within 2 min. during a Feb. 11 test off the coast of California. Photos below show infrared of that event.
The other two targets were solid-fuel Terrier Black Brant sounding rockets, which MDA says closely mimic a solid-fuel ballistic missile in the boost phase with a cheaper alternative. One of the sounding rockets was lased during the Feb. 11 trial within one hour of the first. No replenishment of the chemicals used for the high-energy laser took place between the two engagements.
But, strangely, MDA quietly used the first Terrier Black Brant during a Feb. 3 flight trial, and officials are only just now acknowledging that test. According to MDA spokesman Rick Lehner, this was a calibration test. The sounding rocket was destroyed Feb. 3, but lasing was stopped in the Feb. 11 test against a Terrier Black Brant prior to full target destruction -- Lehner didn't have an immediate explanation why. But, the MDA statement says all test objectives were met.
Clearly, this is a major step forward in the debate about the use of directed energy in missile defense. Boost phase intercept can be done, we now know (at least under certain conditions) using a high-energy laser. And, it is up for debate whether proving the concept with ABL was worth the $4 billion plus spent on the project. Or, whether it was a multibillion campaign for a show of force that won't result in any feasible operational system.
But, ABL will remain a science project. Once it is finished with any future flight tests (MDA is mum for now on this) it gets turned over to DDRE as a generic directed-energy test bed.
This series of flight trials offers no hope for an actual operational system. Defense Secretary Gates said it quite clearly during a hearing in Congress last year: "Right now the ABL would have to orbit inside the borders of Iran in order to be able to try and use its laser to shoot down that missile in the boost phase... If you were to operationalize this you would be looking at 10 to 20 747s, at a billion and a half dollars apiece, and $100 million a year to operate."
A Defense Technology Blog
NEW: ABL PHOTOS from First Shootdown
Posted by Amy Butler at 2/12/2010 10:48 AM CST
FINALLY!!! What is eight years ... when ABL finally manages to shoot down a ballistic missile target?
The target was a liquid-fueled short-range ballistic missile. It was tracked within seconds and shot down within 2 min. during a Feb. 11 test off the coast of California. Photos below show infrared of that event.
The other two targets were solid-fuel Terrier Black Brant sounding rockets, which MDA says closely mimic a solid-fuel ballistic missile in the boost phase with a cheaper alternative. One of the sounding rockets was lased during the Feb. 11 trial within one hour of the first. No replenishment of the chemicals used for the high-energy laser took place between the two engagements.
But, strangely, MDA quietly used the first Terrier Black Brant during a Feb. 3 flight trial, and officials are only just now acknowledging that test. According to MDA spokesman Rick Lehner, this was a calibration test. The sounding rocket was destroyed Feb. 3, but lasing was stopped in the Feb. 11 test against a Terrier Black Brant prior to full target destruction -- Lehner didn't have an immediate explanation why. But, the MDA statement says all test objectives were met.
Clearly, this is a major step forward in the debate about the use of directed energy in missile defense. Boost phase intercept can be done, we now know (at least under certain conditions) using a high-energy laser. And, it is up for debate whether proving the concept with ABL was worth the $4 billion plus spent on the project. Or, whether it was a multibillion campaign for a show of force that won't result in any feasible operational system.
But, ABL will remain a science project. Once it is finished with any future flight tests (MDA is mum for now on this) it gets turned over to DDRE as a generic directed-energy test bed.
This series of flight trials offers no hope for an actual operational system. Defense Secretary Gates said it quite clearly during a hearing in Congress last year: "Right now the ABL would have to orbit inside the borders of Iran in order to be able to try and use its laser to shoot down that missile in the boost phase... If you were to operationalize this you would be looking at 10 to 20 747s, at a billion and a half dollars apiece, and $100 million a year to operate."