The tests, which verified the performance of the recently installed illuminator lasers with the rest of the beam control/fire control system, were conducted on the ground inside the ABL YAL-1A aircraft, a modified 747-400F, at Boeing facilities in Wichita, Kan., the company said.

Lockheed Martin said its beam control/fire control system "employs two illuminator lasers to accurately point and focus ABL's high-energy laser: the Raytheon-developed tracking illuminator, which determines the range to a target and where to point the high-energy laser; and, the Northrop Grumman-developed beacon illuminator, which is used to measure the atmosphere and compensate the beam of the high-energy laser."

"The tests demonstrated the ability to control the path of the illuminator lasers and to control the high-energy laser beam as it travels at the speed of light toward its target. The program achieved a large majority of the objectives of the ground tests and expects to satisfy the remaining ones in the coming months. Lockheed Martin conducted the tests with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, ABL prime contractor Boeing and industry partner Northrop Grumman," the company said in its statement.

"The results of the testing underscore the soundness of our technical approach," said Art Napolitano, ABL program director, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "We functionally demonstrated ABL's ability to locate and track a target, illuminate the target to compensate for atmospheric disturbances and then precisely focus a surrogate laser beam on the target to destroy it."

Lockheed Martin said the ground testing program verified the alignment of the optical components that are designed to guide the lasers to the designated target. The tests also showed "the end-to-end capability to control and fire the illuminator lasers" and proved "the capabilities of the beam control/fire control system and the Boeing-developed battle management system to track and target a ballistic missile, using a simulated target."

The company said the tests also "proved the ability to control a low-power surrogate for the high-energy laser and fire it at a simulated target."

Lockheed Martin said the ABL testing program will next focus on the in-flight testing of the fully integrated beam control/fire control system. The Northrop Grumman-developed high-energy laser is said to have reached lethal power and run-times in a ground laboratory in 2005. It is currently scheduled to be installed in an ABL aircraft in 2007 to prepare for the program's missile shoot-down test in 2008.

"ABL will provide the response necessary to destroy a ballistic missile during its boost phase, while it is still climbing in the Earth's atmosphere and before it can deploy its warheads," Lockheed Martin said.

Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL and provides the modified aircraft and the battle management system. It is also the overall systems integrator. Northrop Grumman makes the high-energy laser and the beacon illuminator laser and Lockheed Martin produces the nose-mounted turret and the beam control/fire control system.

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