The return of the American laser?
The new decision of the US military, it seems, can cause many questions. It concerns the ABL (AirBorne Laser) program, which implies the creation of an aviation complex armed with a laser for hitting ballistic targets. At the end of the last 2011 of the year, the US Congress demanded that the military collect their thoughts and analyze all their promising developments, which, for various reasons, have not yet yielded the expected result. This demand was caused by the fact that the Pentagon regularly complains about the lack of funding, regularly boasts revolutionary new projects and closes them no less regularly for the futility. Everything would have been nothing, but before closing, any such program has time to “eat” at least eight digits in dollar equivalent.
The main complaints of the congressmen concerned two promising projects: a rail gun and an airborne laser. One of them, in the opinion of Congress, was supposed to be what is called “cost-optimized,” in other words, frozen or even closed. It is unlikely that the Pentagon or the DARPA agency were delighted with this proposal, but they could not refuse it either. I had to choose. As a result of the analysis and comparison, rail guns were recognized as more promising. Shortly after the military announced the results of these “elections”, it became known that work in the direction of railguns would be continued with new forces and tests of a full-fledged ship-based prototype would begin by the end of this decade. As for the ABL program and its main element - the Boeing YAL-1 aircraft, the work on them was turned off, and all the documentation was sent to the archive.
It would have been possible to gloat, they say, once again, they started playing in Star Wars, spent a lot of money and did not receive anything as a result. As a matter of fact, quite a few people have been doing this for the past six months. However, recent events in North Korea may cause a new round in stories ABL. When it became known about Pyongyang’s plans to launch the Quanmenson-3 satellite, some part of the world community literally got alarmed. There was talk that the rocket would not raise a satellite, but a warhead, and this is not an attempt to explore space, but a test of a ballistic missile. Considering the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the origin of the Enha-3 launch vehicle, all these statements do not look exclusively paranoid. In the course of the international discussion and condemnation of the Korean plans, some high-ranking US officials began to talk about the need to speed up work on creating a full-fledged anti-missile defense.
But talking is talking, and creating missile defense requires more serious statements and documents. In early May, the MDA agency (Missile Defense Agency) issued an official press release, which refers to the possibility of resuming the ABL program. There are several reasons. Firstly, the need for a mobile complex for intercepting ballistic missiles increases every year, and secondly, the available anti-missile defense facilities may have less efficiency in the future than an airplane with a laser. Finally, only Boeing YAL-1 spent about five billion dollars. This is not the amount you can forget and throw away by closing the project.
On the other hand, the renewal of ABL will not give the result tomorrow. At the time when the Pentagon decided to close this program, it did not constitute something that could be launched into the series from day to day. And the program as a whole, and individual directions for the creation of lasers (TILL, BILL, HEL), and attempts to install them on a flying platform more resembled research on the topic, rather than the full creation of a complete system. It is understandable, all the ABL program technique had to be done almost from scratch, and then also to make it compatible with each other. For these reasons, the projects have already cost a pretty penny. Yes, and in the future they will not be cheap, because all systems need to bring to mind, to ensure their suitability for mass exploitation, etc.
The most famous result of the ABL program is the YAL-1 aircraft, which has several lasers on board for detecting, tracking and attacking a target. Prior to the closure of the project, he managed to fly several hundred hours and destroy three training targets. The plans of the organizations involved in the project were still hundreds of flying hours and dozens of training interceptions. However, all crossed out the financial component of the experiments. Re-equipment of the finished Boeing 747-400 aircraft cost one and a half million dollars, and for one flight hour without the use of lasers it was necessary to spend about a hundred thousand. In addition to the high cost of testing, the chemical components used in the combat laser are highly toxic and require special attention. Ultimately, this also increases the cost of the program.
Nevertheless, it seems that the decision to resume the ABL program can already be considered accepted. Interestingly, talking about the North Korean threat can in principle be considered a sufficient argument for returning to a closed program. Given the state of ABL and the current capabilities of North Korea in the field of rocket production, it can be concluded that a full-fledged combat aircraft with a laser on board will be ready by about the time Koreans can build a serious medium-range or long-range missile. Both countries have to spend a lot of time to complete their projects. It is noteworthy that some US congressmen argue this way: if a potential enemy does not have missiles, then we do not need an anti-missile system either. And add to his argument some details of the estimates of the program ABL. In some ways they are right, which, however, does not affect the time needed for finishing ABL and YAL-1.
On the materials of the sites:
http://www.dailytechinfo.org/
http://dvice.com/
http://www.mda.mil/
The main complaints of the congressmen concerned two promising projects: a rail gun and an airborne laser. One of them, in the opinion of Congress, was supposed to be what is called “cost-optimized,” in other words, frozen or even closed. It is unlikely that the Pentagon or the DARPA agency were delighted with this proposal, but they could not refuse it either. I had to choose. As a result of the analysis and comparison, rail guns were recognized as more promising. Shortly after the military announced the results of these “elections”, it became known that work in the direction of railguns would be continued with new forces and tests of a full-fledged ship-based prototype would begin by the end of this decade. As for the ABL program and its main element - the Boeing YAL-1 aircraft, the work on them was turned off, and all the documentation was sent to the archive.
It would have been possible to gloat, they say, once again, they started playing in Star Wars, spent a lot of money and did not receive anything as a result. As a matter of fact, quite a few people have been doing this for the past six months. However, recent events in North Korea may cause a new round in stories ABL. When it became known about Pyongyang’s plans to launch the Quanmenson-3 satellite, some part of the world community literally got alarmed. There was talk that the rocket would not raise a satellite, but a warhead, and this is not an attempt to explore space, but a test of a ballistic missile. Considering the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the origin of the Enha-3 launch vehicle, all these statements do not look exclusively paranoid. In the course of the international discussion and condemnation of the Korean plans, some high-ranking US officials began to talk about the need to speed up work on creating a full-fledged anti-missile defense.
But talking is talking, and creating missile defense requires more serious statements and documents. In early May, the MDA agency (Missile Defense Agency) issued an official press release, which refers to the possibility of resuming the ABL program. There are several reasons. Firstly, the need for a mobile complex for intercepting ballistic missiles increases every year, and secondly, the available anti-missile defense facilities may have less efficiency in the future than an airplane with a laser. Finally, only Boeing YAL-1 spent about five billion dollars. This is not the amount you can forget and throw away by closing the project.
On the other hand, the renewal of ABL will not give the result tomorrow. At the time when the Pentagon decided to close this program, it did not constitute something that could be launched into the series from day to day. And the program as a whole, and individual directions for the creation of lasers (TILL, BILL, HEL), and attempts to install them on a flying platform more resembled research on the topic, rather than the full creation of a complete system. It is understandable, all the ABL program technique had to be done almost from scratch, and then also to make it compatible with each other. For these reasons, the projects have already cost a pretty penny. Yes, and in the future they will not be cheap, because all systems need to bring to mind, to ensure their suitability for mass exploitation, etc.
The most famous result of the ABL program is the YAL-1 aircraft, which has several lasers on board for detecting, tracking and attacking a target. Prior to the closure of the project, he managed to fly several hundred hours and destroy three training targets. The plans of the organizations involved in the project were still hundreds of flying hours and dozens of training interceptions. However, all crossed out the financial component of the experiments. Re-equipment of the finished Boeing 747-400 aircraft cost one and a half million dollars, and for one flight hour without the use of lasers it was necessary to spend about a hundred thousand. In addition to the high cost of testing, the chemical components used in the combat laser are highly toxic and require special attention. Ultimately, this also increases the cost of the program.
Nevertheless, it seems that the decision to resume the ABL program can already be considered accepted. Interestingly, talking about the North Korean threat can in principle be considered a sufficient argument for returning to a closed program. Given the state of ABL and the current capabilities of North Korea in the field of rocket production, it can be concluded that a full-fledged combat aircraft with a laser on board will be ready by about the time Koreans can build a serious medium-range or long-range missile. Both countries have to spend a lot of time to complete their projects. It is noteworthy that some US congressmen argue this way: if a potential enemy does not have missiles, then we do not need an anti-missile system either. And add to his argument some details of the estimates of the program ABL. In some ways they are right, which, however, does not affect the time needed for finishing ABL and YAL-1.
On the materials of the sites:
http://www.dailytechinfo.org/
http://dvice.com/
http://www.mda.mil/
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