An airborne laser ( ABL ) is a laser system operated from a flying platform, as in the:
10-583: The Beriev A-60 is a Russian airborne laser laboratory aircraft based on the Ilyushin Il-76MD transport— it was originally developed in the former Soviet Union for its airborne forces. In the 1970s a special aviation complex was established by the Soviets at Taganrog machine-building factory to develop airborne laser technology for the Soviet military. In 1977 Beriev OKB started the design of
20-502: A flying laboratory designated '1А'. The purpose was to solve the complex scientific and engineering problems regarding the creation of an airborne laser and also to facilitate research on the distribution of beams in the top layers of an atmosphere. Work on this topic occurred with wide cooperation between the enterprises and the scientific organizations of the USSR, but the basic partner OKB was TsKB Almaz headed by B.V. Bunkin. The Il-76MD
30-451: A simulated cruise missile ( BQM-34 ). Of note is that the ALL demonstrated one of the early uses of deformable mirror technology. To compensate for various atmospheric aberrations arising from turbulence and absorption of energy from the beam itself, it was necessary to modify the wavefront of the beam after it emerged from the laser resonator in order to ensure it would arrive at the target as
40-531: A tightly focused spot. Subsequent to the Gulf War , in 1996 the Airborne Laser (ABL) program was begun using a Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL), also developed at AFWL in the 1970's and 1980's. The ABL was mounted on a modified Boeing 747. See Boeing YAL-1 for further discussion. The original ALL, being a relatively long wavelength, sub-megawatt laser, killed its targets via two mechanisms. One
50-661: The United States began with the Airborne Laser Laboratory (ALL) developed at the USAF Weapons Lab (AFWL), now known as Phillips Laboratory , in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The ALL was based on a carbon dioxide gas dynamic laser (GDL), operating at the infrared wavelength of 10.6 microns, and mounted on a modified Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker ( NC-135 ). It was successfully tested, and in 1983 destroyed five AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and
60-414: The metal of the missile that it was currently targeting. "It deposits enough heat to laze a hole through it. It's like taking a magnifying glass and burning a hole through a piece of paper, but we do it through metal," said Dr. Keith Truesdell, Phillips Lab chief of the applied laser technology branch. To help with firing, newer ABL systems utilize tracking lasers which have been tested recently in 2007 when
70-601: The project was reactivated in May 2009, according to the eyewitness accounts about an A-60 spotted flying in the Rostov on Don and Taganrog regions. It is currently parked at Taganrog Airport at 47°11'53.92"N 38°51'46.05"E. Russia has developed a military airborne laser mounted in a A-60, designated 1LK222 Sokol Eshelon . The second A-60 laboratory can be seen at this reference. Related development: Comparable aircraft: Airborne laser Development of airborne lasers in
80-496: Was by direct illumination and heating of the guidance sensor of an air-to-air missile, which defeated its tracking system. The other was by heating a cruise missile or similar vehicle to the extent that the fuel tank exploded and destroyed the vehicle. Tracking used a conical scanning technique, which employed the beam of the boresighted high-energy laser to acquire and track the target vehicle via its illuminated infrared return. The newer ABL had enough energy when fired to vaporize
90-456: Was developed for installation on the IL-76. The '1A' flying laboratory first flew on 19 August 1981 under E.A. Lakhmostov. On 29 August 1991, the crew led by test pilot V.P. Demyanovskiy flew the second flying laboratory which received the name '1А2' СССР-86879. A new variant of a laser system was installed as a result of tests on '1А'. Apparently, after being mothballed for more than 15 years,
100-505: Was selected as the base aircraft for the flying laboratory. To accommodate the laser many changes were made to the basic IL-76 design, which drastically changed the appearance of the plane. The problem of accommodating the laser gun was therefore solved and it did not spoil the aerodynamics of the base aircraft. The laser system was 1 MW, created by one of the branches of the Institute of Atomic Energy, Kurchatov . This carbon dioxide laser
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