The first hand-off was performed on October 12 during "live fire" tests using Katyusha rockets at the Army's High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF), White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The THEL/ACTD fire control radar, which is part of the C3I subsystem, detected the rocket shortly after launch. The C3I subsystem sent the rocket trajectory information to the PTS, then a Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) camera within the PTS successfully acquired the rocket.

The tests not only confirmed that the C3I subsystem, the "brain" of the THEL/ACTD weapon, can accurately acquire and track flying targets, but also demonstrated that it could successfully transfer its tracking information to the PTS. In an operational THEL/ACTD system, the next step for the PTS would be to perform "fine" target tracking by illuminating the target with a low power laser. THEL/ACTD's high-energy laser would then be activated and placed on target.

"This successful test allows the THEL/ACTD program to continue its methodical, disciplined march toward demonstrating the world's first laser-based air defense system," said Tom Romesser, vice president & deputy general manager of TRW's Space & Laser Programs Division, and TRW's THEL/ACTD program manager. "The next step will be to demonstrate the fine tracking of rocket targets using illuminator lasers."

In addition to the single rocket hand-off from the C3I subsystem to the PTS, added Romesser, the recent HELSTF tests also included several multiple rocket engagements. These tests demonstrated that the C3I subsystem can sequentially acquire and track multiple targets, that it can sequentially command the PTS to begin tracking each target, and that the PTS can successfully begin the tracking targets in sequence.

The C3I subsystem has been undergoing tracking tests against live rocket targets at HELSTF since June 1998. During those tests, the PTS had been represented by an electronic simulator. TRW delivered the actual PTS to HELSTF just after Labor Day.

TRW also recently moved the THEL/ACTD laser subsystem to HELSTF. The program expects to reactivate the laser and complete its integration with the PTS and C3I subsystems to form the THEL/ACTD fire unit later this year. First shoot-downs of live targets are expected this winter.

THEL/ACTD is a ground-based, short-range air defense system that will use a high-energy chemical laser to protect civilians and military assets against attack by terrorist threats such as Katyusha rockets.

TRW leads a team of U.S. and Israeli subcontractors that is developing the THEL/ACTD fire unit for the U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, Ala and the Israel Ministry of Defense. The first fire unit will be a "transportable" system packaged in several semi-trailer sized containers.

TRW has been engaged in laser research and development since 1961. The company produces solid-state lasers for defense and industrial applications, and designs and develops a variety of high-energy chemical lasers for space, ground and airborne applications. These chemical lasers include hydrogen fluoride, deuterium fluoride and chemical oxygen iodine lasers.

MILSPACE
Tuning Up The Ray Guns
Redondo Beach - October 12, 1999 - Team ABL which brings together the US Air Force, Boeing, TRW and Lockheed Martin - has completed testing of the TRW-developed laser module that will serve as the technical foundation for America's Airborne Laser (ABL) missile defense system. During a four-month long test program at TRW's Capistrano Test Site in Southern California, the flight weighted laser module-3 (FLM-3) exceeded by a significant margin the laser power and beam quality requirements of the operational ABL system, according to Col. Mike Booen, director of the Air Force's ABL program.