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A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.8 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers.
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Boeing Airborne Laser Team Rolls Out Modified Aircraft and Prepares for Flight Tests
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 27, 2006 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE:BA], along with industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, rolled out the Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft today from a modification facility in Wichita, Kan., during a ceremony marking major program achievements on several fronts.
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Team ABL Begins Fabrication Of Airborne Laser Turret
SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 07, 2000 -- Team Airborne Laser (ABL) has begun fabrication of the ABL's revolutionary, high-energy laser weapon system turret assembly at Lockheed Martin Space Systems' Sunnyvale, Calif., facility.
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Airborne Laser (ABL)
The Airborne Laser (ABL) will locate and track missiles in the boost phase of their flight, then accurately point and fire the high-energy laser, destroying enemy missiles near their launch areas.
Capabilities:
Operates autonomously, above the clouds, outside the range of threat weapons but sufficiently close to enemy territory
Engages early, destroying ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight over launch area
Cues and tracks targets, communicating with other joint theater assets for layered defense system
Unique Technology:
Nose-mounted turret with 1.5m telescope that focuses beams on missile and collects return image and signals
Beam Control System to acquire and track targets with precision accuracy
Look for further developments of the ABL as the global threat of ballistic missiles becomes ever more prevalent.
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Laser & Electro-Optical Systems (LEOS)
Boeing has developed the LEOS High Energy Laser systems to address multiple defense needs and customers. Among the key LEOS programs are the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program and Relay Systems.
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Boeing Acquires SVS, Inc. in Bid to Expand Laser and Optics Business
WEST HILLS, Calif. and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., June 27, 2000 -- The Boeing Company today announced that it is in negotiations to acquire SVS, Inc., of Albuquerque, N.M., a high technology company with nationally-recognized expertise in the electro-optical arena. The announcement was made by Mike Skolnick, vice president and general manager of the Laser & Electro Optical Systems (LEOS) unit of The Boeing Company.
"Boeing has made a major investment in the directed-energy marketplace, with its lead role in Airborne Laser, Space Based Laser and its development work in the laser and beam control technologies," Skolnick said. "SVS would bring critical and specialized capabilities to the company, not only in directed energy, but also in a wide range of electro-optical controls and image processing applications for both the defense and commercial markets."
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Key Missile Defense Systems Programs
BY KERRY GILDEA
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ADVANCED TACTICAL LASER (ATL) AND RELAY MIRRORS (ARMS)
In the high-energy laser market, Boeing’s Laser and Electro Optical Systems (L&EOS) is under contract to build a prototype ATL to target precise ground targets from the air. The ongoing ATL advanced concept technology demonstration program will provide a transition to a deployable ultra-precision strike capability. L&EOS also has started studies and is working with the government to demonstrate an Advanced Relay Mirror System (ARMS) concept by 2006.
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AIRBORNE LASER
Boeing, the prime contractor on the Airborne Laser (ABL), is teamed with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. ABL places a megawatt high-energy laser on a Boeing 747-400 to shoot down ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight.
The Airborne Laser (ABL) team is conducting large-scale integration work on the aircraft and progressing toward the laser’s “first light” and the system’s full-scale lethality test. The aircraft has successfully completed a series of flight worthiness tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where it is undergoing extensive ground tests.
The Boeing ABL program office is in Seattle, Wash., with portions of the work done at the Boeing site in Wichita, Kan.
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Boeing Awarded High Energy Laser System Testbed Contract
ST. LOUIS, July 28, 2003 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has been awarded a contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., for a mobile testbed to enable development of beam control and fire control solutions for tactical high energy laser weapon systems.
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Airborne Laser Progress Continues as Northrop Grumman Runs Full-Power COIL Tests, Delivers Beacon Illuminator Laser
REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Jan. 4, 2006 -- Laser systems built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) for the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) continue to post solid progress with the completion of power and duration testing of the megawatt-class chemical laser and delivery of the Beacon Illuminator Laser (BILL).
The Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) is the world's most powerful directed energy weapon built for an airborne environment. The BILL, a high-power, solid-state laser, is essential to ABL's beam control/fire control system that "steers" COIL's beam as it propagates toward a target at 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light.
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Airborne Laser Tests on Target
Having accomplished first light and first flight milestones at the end of 2004, the Boeing-led Airborne Laser (ABL) program has moved into the next phase of testing aimed at further validating the transformational weapon system as a critical component of the nation's multi-layered defense against the ballistic missile threat.
Boeing is the prime contractor and systems integrator of the ABL program that places a megawatt-class, high energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL), Beam & Fire Control and Battle Management system on a modified Boeing 747-400 aircraft to detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in the boost phase of flight. ABL also can pass information on launch site, target track and predicted impact point to other layers of the global ballistic missile defense system
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Airborne Laser Window Exposed in Flight
The Boeing-led Airborne Laser (ABL) team exposed the aircraft’s conformal window for the first time during flight, a maneuver necessary for the weapon system to complete its mission of shooting down an enemy ballistic missile during the boost phase of flight.
Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, in a May 20 statement, announced the ABL 1.7-meter conformal window had been successfully exposed. The exposure test, the MDA statement said, is an “important part of the flight test series being conducted this year.”
Obering also recently told reporters that “the Airbone Laser has had some great successes” and the system continues to improve as the MDA’s “primary boost phase defense” system.
Boeing is prime contractor for the ABL system under contract to the MDA. The system consists of a megawatt-class, high-energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) installed on a Boeing 747-400F aircraft for the detection, tracking and destruction of ballistic missiles in the boost phase. ABL also can pass information on launch site, target track and predicted impact point to other layers of the global ballistic missile defense system.
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Boeing Airborne Laser Team Achieves First Flight
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 03, 2004 -- The Boeing [NYSE: BA] Airborne Laser (ABL) team flew an aircraft equipped with the integrated battle management and Beam Control/Fire Control (BC/FC)systems for the first time at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Dec. 3.
Boeing is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the ABL weapon system, which places a megawatt-class, high-energy Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser on a Boeing 747-400F aircraft to detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in the boost phase of flight. ABL also can pass information on launch site, target track and predicted impact to other layers of the global ballistic missile defense system.
"This is a significant technological achievement in the ABL program and demonstrates the continued steady flow of progress we've been making." said Jim Evatt, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.
The ABL aircraft conducted initial airworthiness and battle management testing in 2002 after extensive modification from a civil freighter to the first airborne platform to house a megawatt-class directed energy weapon system. Following those successful tests, it was delivered to Edwards AFB in late 2002 to begin further weapon systems installation.
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Boeing Completes Successful ABL Wind Tunnel Tests
SEATTLE, Jan. 28, 1998 -- A month-long series of wind tunnel tests conducted by Boeing has confirmed the design of components critical to the performance of the Airborne Laser (ABL).
Milestones:
Nov. 15, 1996: Air Force selects Team ABL for Program Definition and Risk Reduction (PDRR) phase of program
1996-2002: PDRR (build and demonstrate one ABL weapon system)
2nd Qtr 1998: Full-scale, Flightweight Laser Module Demonstration ABL Preliminary Design Review
2002: Shoot down a boosting theater ballistic missile; ABL Residual Operational Capability available if needed
2003-2005: Engineering Manufacturing and Development (EMD)
2005-2008: Production (IOC 3 aircraft 2006, FOC 7 aircraft 2008)
ABL: http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/abl/
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2nd Half 2000 Program Progress
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1st Half 2001 Program Progress
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2nd Half 2001 Program Progress
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ABL First Flight - July 18, 2002
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ABL Overview - March 13, 2003
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2003 ABL Vignette
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2004 - Missile Defense
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2005 - 1st Turret Ball Rotation
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2006 ABL Overview
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E-4B National Airborne Operations Center
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The E-4B serves as the National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC) for the National Command Authorities. In case of national emergency or destruction of ground command control centers, the aircraft provides a modern, highly survivable, command, control and communications center to direct U.S. forces, execute emergency war orders and coordinate actions by civil authorities. There are only four E-4B aircraft in the Air Force inventory, with one constantly on alert.
The E-4B National Airborne Operations Center supports the National Command Authority (NCA) and the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). Other responsibilities include a worldwide, survivable enduring node of the National Military Command System (NMCS) for the purpose of exercising national security responsibilities throughout the full spectrum. of conflict.
Offutt AFB, NE serves as the ACC E-4B Main Operating Base (MOB). Offutt AFB provides full organizational level maintenance with limited intermediate level maintenance support. Higher headquarters and training missions are flown from Offutt AFB. The E-4B has numerous Forwarding Operating Bases (FOB) throughout the United States. Higher headquarters and training missions are flown from these FOBs. The FOBs have limited organizational level maintenance capability and no intermediate level maintenance. Maintenance support is provided by a deployed 1 ACCS maintenance team.
Air Combat Command (ACC) is the Air Force single-resource manager for the E-4B, and provides aircrew, maintenance, security and communications support. The Joint Chiefs of Staff actually control E-4B operations and provide personnel for the airborne operations center.
The E-4B, a militarized version of the Boeing 747-200, is a four-engine, swept-wing, long-range, high-altitude airplane capable of being refueled in flight. Its larger size provides approximately triple the floor space of the earlier EC-135 command post.
The main deck is divided into six functional areas: a National Command Authorities' work area, conference room, briefing room, an operations team work area, and communications and rest areas. An E-4B crew may include up to 114 people, including a joint-service operations team, an ACC flight crew, a maintenance and security component, a communications team and selected augmentees.
The E-4B has electromagnetic pulse protection, an electrical system designed to support advanced electronics and a wide variety of new communications equipment. Other improvements include nuclear and thermal effects shielding, acoustic control, an improved technical control facility and an upgraded air-conditioning system for cooling electrical components. An advanced satellite communications system improves worldwide communications among strategic and tactical satellite systems and the airborne operations center.
To provide direct support to the National Command Authorities, at least one E-4B is always on alert at one of many selected bases throughout the world.
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