Photo Gallery

This sequence of images shows a threat representative ballistic missile’s breakup resulting from a high energy laser engagement by the Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser Testbed. (Photo: U.S. Missile Defense Agency)

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Team ABL Conducts Tests of First Flight Airborne Laser Module

Team ABL -- USAF, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin -- are undergoing completed integration and performance testing of the first flight laser module for the Air Force's Airborne Laser program. The first ABL system will use six of these modules to generate a megawatt-class chemical laser capable of destroying a theater ballistic missile in the boost phase from a range of several hundred kilometers.

In the photo, laser technicians at Northrop Grumman's Capistrano Test Site in Southern California double check their procedures for integrating and testing the first module. Northrop Grumman leads the laser module integration and testing activities as part of Team ABL's $1.4 billion program definition and risk reduction contract with the Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

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Airborne Laser Team Validates Performance of Redesigned Laser Pump

Team ABL -- USAF, Boeing,Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin -- has demonstrated that the pump responsible for pumping chemical laser reactants through the Airborne Laser modules can meet all of its performance requirements. In the photo, a Northrop Grumman laser technician checks the fittings of the new pump prior to a successful demonstration of its pumping capabilities on July 18. The test proved that the new pump can pump basic hydrogen peroxide, one of the ABL's primary chemical reactants, at the flow rate required to achieve full laser power.

The test was performed at Northrop Grumman's Capistrano Test Site in Southern California, where Team ABL is currently integrating and testing the first ABL flight laser module. Team ABL is developing the first ABL demonstration system under a $1.4 billion program definition and risk reduction contract with the Air Force Space & Missile System Center, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

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Laser Exhaust System

Team ABL Demonstrates Airborne Laser Exhaust System

As part of recent performance testing of the first flight laser module for the Air Force's Airborne Laser system, Team ABL -- USAF, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin -- are demonstrating the performance of the exhaust system that will remove laser exhaust gases from the 747 aircraft.

In the photo, laser technicians at Northrop Grumman's Capistrano Test Site double check the fittings on the "six pack" of single tube ejectors used by the laser module to "re-pressurize" and remove laser exhaust from the aircraft. The pressure recovery process allows the exhaust to be easily "pushed" out of the aircraft, similar to pushing a rock to the top of a hill and letting it roll down the other side under the force of gravity. Northrop Grumman leads the laser module integration and testing activities as part of Team ABL's $1.4 billion program definition and risk reduction contract with the Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

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ABL with the Conformal Window Open in the Nose Turret

This photo shows the conformal window on the Airborne Laser as it was exposed for the first time in flight during a May 2005 test of ABL YAL-1A flight aircraft over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The conformal window essentially is a very large contact lens, ground to optical specifications.

Optical coatings, which make it glimmer and appear different colors, are necessary because the window is the exit point for beams from three lasers (Tracking Illuminator Laser, Beacon Illuminator Laser and Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser) , and the entry point for laser beams that are designed to bounce off the target and come back to the aircraft carrying a wide range of information needed for ABL's mission.

The conformal window is 67 inches in diameter, weighs 288 pounds and took five years to design and manufacture. Behind the window is a 59-inch wide, 315-pound primary window, comprising a completed turret. USAF Photo.

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