Airborne Laser Could Zap
Missiles Source: Space Daily March 1, 2001
Sunnyvale - Imagine in the near future a defensive
system that uses airborne laser beams traveling at the speed of light
to 'zap' enemy missiles early in their boost stage. Well, Flash Gordon
is moving from science fiction lore to the factory floor with the
opening of a facility to integrate and test a key element of the
Airborne Laser system. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held last week to
mark the start of operations at the 16,000-square-foot Beam
Control/Fire Control Integration and Test Facility at Lockheed Martin
Space Systems in Sunnyvale.
Lockheed Martin is building the Beam Control/Fire
Control system for Team Airborne Laser (ABL), which includes the Air
Force, team leader Boeing, TRW and a host of companies in the Bay
Area.
"The Airborne Laser is for real, and we are proceeding
toward a shoot-down demonstration planned for late 2003," said Air
Force Col. Ellen Pawlikowski, ABL System Program Director, among those
dignitaries present for today's event.
"This is a critical milestone for a system that offers a
realistic and affordable near-term defensive solution to protect
civilians and military assets from attack by theater ballistic
missiles."
Anthony G. Tuffo, president of Lockheed Martin Space
Systems' operations in Sunnyvale, hosted the officials here for the
event. "We are proud to be part of this impressive government-industry
team on such an important defense initiative," he said.
"The Beam Control/Fire Control program builds on our
legacy of delivering leading-edge electro-optical systems ranging from
those used on the Hubble Space Telescope to remote sensing satellites
for government and commercial customers."
According to Paul Shattuck, Lockheed Martin's program
manager, the Beam Control/Fire Control system is one of the central
elements of the Airborne Laser weapon as it actually steers the laser
into the target. "The Beam/Control Fire Control system, housed in the
nose of a modified Boeing 747, will autonomously detect, track and
destroy hostile theater ballistic missiles," he said.
"We're investing in a major new facility that will allow
the team to test the sophisticated suite of optical benches, sensors,
mirrors and lasers, which include items such as a low-light sensor
that can see a dollar bill in a pitch-black room," said Shattuck.
Partnerships throughout the Silicon Valley and
surrounding Bay Area abound on this program. The low-light sensor,
called the Electron-Bombarded Charge Coupled Device or EBCCD for
short, is being produced by another Silicon Valley company -- Intevac
in Santa Clara. The optical benches and rotating nose turret are
state-of-the-art lightweight composite structure.
Manufacturing and assembly of these precision structures
required teaming between the Lockheed Martin Composite Center in
Sunnyvale and Applied Aerospace Structures (AASC) in Stockton. Total
investment in the new Sunnyvale facility is $8 million, and about 135
are employed on the program at Lockheed Martin. The Lockheed Martin
portion of the
$1.6 billion development program is $325 million.
The Beam Control/Fire Control Integration and Test
Facility will include a high bay, Class 10,000 optics clean room,
control room with closed circuit television system, mezzanine office
space, hydraulic units and the Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning system.
The facility has the capability of emulating the 747
aircraft by providing the identical electrical and hydraulic power,
and environmental controls to the Beam Control/Fire Control flight
equipment. Overhead trays replicate the routing of the flight cables
in the aircraft.
The relative geometric positions of the turret, optical
benches, and electrical racks are also preserved in this facility. A
range simulator, also being developed on the ABL program, will allow
for complete end-to-end testing of the Beam Control/Fire Control
system against a simulated target.
ABL Team leader Boeing has overall program management
and system integration responsibilities. Boeing is also developing the
ABL battle management system and modifying the 747-400 aircraft. Those
efforts are being conducted at Boeing facilities in Seattle, Wash.,
and Wichita, Kan. TRW, Redondo Beach, Calif., is building the Chemical
Oxygen Iodine Laser and the related ground support subsystem.
The high-energy laser is designed to shoot down theater
ballistic missiles within hundreds of miles from their launch site.
ABL will locate and track missiles in the boost phase of their flight
above the clouds, then accurately point and fire the laser with such
energy that the missiles will be destroyed near their launch areas and
may fall onto the adversary's territory.
ABL system component installation aboard the modified
747 is expected to start in Wichita and at Edwards Air Force Base,
Calif. in July, with first flight in early 2002.
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