Airborne Laser (ABL), a U.S. Air Force program aimed at destroying enemy ballistic missiles as they rise off their launch pads, could be deployed against conventional aircraft and even ground targets, according to prime contractor Boeing.

The ABL program places a high-energy chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) on a modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft to detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight. ABL can also pass along information on launch sites, target tracks and predicted impact points to other layers of the global ballistic missile defense system. Boeing provides the aircraft, battle management and overall systems integration and testing. Northrop Grumman supplies the high-energy laser and Lockheed Martin provides the beam control/fire control system.

"The Air Force is looking at our effectivity against aircraft," said Greg Hyslop, Boeing Airborne Laser vice president and program manager. "We could also use ABL for air-to-ground, but at this point we lack the appropriate level of sensing capability and would have to receive target coordinates from somewhere else. In air-to-ground mode, the ranges are a lot shorter, so we would have to determine how lethal we are and at what ranges. This is something we'll probably look at after the lethal demonstration."

Under the Missile Defense Agency's plan, the Air Force would field a squadron of seven ABL aircraft – Boeing 747 freighters equipped with megawatt-class chemical lasers operating in the infrared wavelength.
To be in position to engage nuclear-tipped North Korean missiles, it is assumed that some or all of these aircraft would be based in Japan. Plans to do this are still in the works, however. According to Hyslop, the Japanese have expressed great interest in ABL and "we're looking for ways that the Japanese government and industry can participate."

The ability to recharge the chemical laser in a forward setting remains a challenge. A portable chemical mixing facility, deployable by C-17 transport aircraft is under development.

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