Laser gunship program takes off

(MDS) has taken delivery of the aircraft for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program, achieving the first of several milestones in the creation of a laser gunship.

The C-130H transport, which belongs to the US Air Force's 46th Test Wing, was handed over to Boeing on January 18 in Crestview, Florida, near Eglin Air Force Base. Boeing is modifying the aircraft to enable it to carry a high-energy chemical laser and battle management and beam control subsystems.

Boeing will begin flight testing the aircraft this summer with all subsystems on board except the high-energy laser. A low-power surrogate laser will stand in for the kilowatt-class, high-energy laser.

The high-energy laser is being built in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is scheduled to achieve "first light" in ground tests this summer. By 2007, Boeing will install the device on the aircraft and fire it in-flight at ground targets to demonstrate the military utility of high-energy lasers. The laser will be fired through an existing 50-inch-diameter hole in the aircraft's belly.