The Missile Defense Agency is preparing the 747-400F-based Airborne Laser for its most critical test -- a shootdown of a boosting ballistic missile -- later this year. After years of delays and cost overruns, the industry team - Boeing, Northrop and Lockheed -- are hoping to prove the technology can work. This video isn't new. But, one notable point raised in it is that the target for this test will be a foreign miltiary asset, meaning an actual threat missile, not a U.S. reproduciton of one.

Also of note, while ABL wouldn't require fixed ground assets, it would need a massive support infrastructure -- including logistics for the volitile chemicals -- to actually operate. The source for this video is Northrop Grumman; it was distributed at the SMDC 2009 conference in Huntsville, Ala., last week.

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Added: 13th February 2010 Views: 185

Category: News

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U.S. Airborne Laser, Northrop Grumman's ABL