Lockheed Martin has announced that during a successful test,  the Beam Control/Fire Control system for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser (ABL) focused and directed a laser beam to destroy a target missile called a Missile Alternative Range Target Instrumentation (MARTI). The test was conducted August 10th aboard ABL’s modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft.Mark Johnson, ABL program director, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, stated “The Beam Control/Fire Control System has once again proven its capabilities in flight. Completing the low-power flight testing against an instrumented boosting target is a testament to the readiness of ABL’s Beam Control/Fire Control system.”
The next test for the Beam Control/Fire Control system will be high-power flight operations, culminating in an airborne intercept test against an unarmed, boosting ballistic missile target later this year. ABL’s objective is to destroy a ballistic missile while it is still accelerating in the Earth’s atmosphere, before it can deploy its warheads.
