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By Kerry Gildea
The Air Force and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) are slated early next month to roll out the first Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft, with the hopes of proceeding to a first flight in 2002.
"This is a key event because the plane is now ready to come off the jacks...it looks like an ABL--not like a 747," Air Force Col. Ellen Pawlikowski, the ABL program director, told Defense Daily yesterday in an interview at BMDO offices in Arlington, Va.
Boeing (BA) is teamed with Lockheed Martin (LMT) and TRW (TRW) to develop ABL, which places a high-energy laser on a Boeing 747-400 aircraft to shoot down theater ballistic missiles in the boost phase. ABL would locate and track missiles in the boost phase of their flight above the clouds, then point and fire the laser with such energy that the missiles would be destroyed near their launch areas and fall onto the adversary's territory.
The first ABL is slated to roll out of the hangar at Boeing facilities in Wichita, Kan., on Nov. 10. However, the laser and beam control system will not be integrated on the platform for another year.
"The focus will now be to finish work for the first flight," Pawlikowski said, explaining that all major modifications and structural changes needed to transform the 747 cargo plane into an ABL have been completed.
For example, the 1,000-pound bulkhead has been integrated into the plane for stability and to ensure the platform can flex as necessary during flight while carrying the laser system, Pawlikowski said. In another area, all the major modifications have been in preparation for attachment of infrared search and track sensors needed for initial detection of incoming ballistic missiles.
The overhauled 747 has "extensive structural mods," she noted, explaining the inside of the platform contains massive amounts...