Published Aerospace Power Journal - Winter 2000

Airborne Laser: Bullets of Light by Robert W. Duffner. Plenum Publishers (http://www.wkap. nl), 233 Spring Street, New York, New York 10013-1578, 1997, 398 pages, $34.95.

Before the Air Force even conceived of the airborne laser (ABL), Air Force personnel, contractors, and scientists worked at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, to develop a laser capable of shooting down a missile. Robert Duffner’s well-documented history mixes physics and personal accounts to trace the development of military lasers from 1958. The task, then as today, was to develop a weapon that could destroy a missile in flight. Doing so required not only a powerful laser but also a tracking mechanism to keep a beam focused on a rapidly moving object. All pieces of such a system were developed at Kirtland over a period of 30 years.

Following the proposal to develop the ABL, the next two decades were spent perfecting chemicals and optics that would make such a device possible. In 1969 Gen John Ryan, chief of staff of the Air Force, authorized an increase in funding and paved the way for feasibility demonstrations since the project showed promise. Hans Mark, secretary of the Air Force, and Harold Brown, secretary of defense, also backed the program.

After more development work, most components of a ground-based test-laser assembly were fitted into an NKC-135 airborne laser lab (ALL). A second KC-135 was modified to act as the diagnostic aircraft, which would receive telemetric data from the ALL and targets. In the event of an explosion from the pressurized chemicals the ALL used to conduct laser tests, the diagnostic aircraft would be able to determine what had happened. After the usual setbacks that accompany such high-technology tests, the ALL successfully shot down a variety of test items, such as an AIM-9 Sidewinder and a BQM-34 drone.

After its successes in 1983, the ALL continued to serve as a test bed for laser experiments. In 1984, however, the aircraft went into flyable storage at Kirtland and in 1988 was retired and flown to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. This successful program gave the Air Force its first-generation laser and pointer/tracker. Currently, the Air Force is working on its second-generation system—an ABL mounted in a 747-400F—which should enter the inventory in 2006.

Since Airborne Laser provides the best history of developments leading to the ABL, I highly recommend it to any Air Force officer or to anyone interested in laser applications. Well illustrated, this technological success story covers the entire developmental work on airborne lasers, problems encountered, and solutions reached—all in writing that nonscientists can understand.

Capt Gilles Van Nederveen, USAF
Maxwell AFB, Alabama

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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