Space-Based Laser Team Defines Requirements for Experimental Missile Defense System

SPACEWAR

Team SBL-IFX and the Air Force expect to launch the satellite in 2012, with an on-orbit demonstration of the satellite's ability to detect, track and destroy a boosting missile target planned for 2013. (Illustration only)

El Segundo - April 4, 2001
The team of aerospace contractors developing the Air Force's Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL-IFX) has successfully completed the experimental satellite's System Requirements Review, taking a major step forward in the ongoing design and manufacturing development process.

Team SBL-IFX, a joint venture comprising TRW, Lockheed Martin and Boeing reviewed SBL-IFX's system-level specifications and key development milestones with the Air Force and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) during the review, held March 28-29 in El Segundo, Calif.

SBL-IFX is planned as a single satellite carrying a laser payload comprising a high-energy chemical laser, a beam director and related beam control systems.

A successful test will pave the way for the nation to consider developing a constellation of space-based laser satellites as part of a layered missile defense architecture.

"Completion of this review is a significant milestone for the government and Team SBL-IFX," said Col. Neil McCasland, director of the Air Force's SBL-IFX project office. "It has given us a new level of confidence as we matched our design work with our top-level system requirements and assured ourselves, through rigorous analysis, that the current design is on the right path and is ready for the next level of refinement."

Of perhaps greater significance than the review itself is the process by which Team SBL-IFX and its government customers developed and completed the documentation for SBL-IFX.

"This review really validates the concept of Total System Authority," said Barry Waldman, program director of Team SBL-IFX, referring to the acquisition format under which Team SBL-IFX is responsible for achieving all program objectives.

"Since we began the program in 1999, the joint venture has worked in close partnership with the Air Force and BMDO to define and develop requirements and specifications for SBL-IFX. This cooperative approach has really streamlined the requirements development process.

"It has also ensured that, upon completion of SRR, we will all understand and agree upon the requirements and technical specifications that will assure a successful SBL-IFX demonstration."

Completion of the SRR will allow the team to begin preparing detailed specifications for the IFX down to major segments, including the space, payload and ground segments of the experiment. Those specifications will be completed by the Fall of 2001, in time for the program's System Definition Review.

Team SBL-IFX is developing the SBL-IFX for the Air Force under a $240 million contract funded in part by BMDO. The team comprises TRW Space & Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Operations, Sunnyvale, Calif. and Boeing Space & Communications Group, Seal Beach, Calif.

SPACEWAR

Airborne Laser On Track To Illuminate Missiles

El Segundo - March 30, 2001
Lockheed Martin Space Systems said Thursday that its subcontractor, Raytheon Electronic Systems, has achieved a crucial milestone in the development of the Beam Control/Fire Control system for the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The Beam Control/Fire Control system will aim and fire a high-energy laser at a target missile in its boost phase.

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