ABL - Airborne Laser

ABL
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ABL

Specifications:

ABL = AirBorne Laser

ABL - Air Force Reasearch Lab (see more details)
Airborne Laser System Program Office at Kirtland Air Force Base
Boeing (Seattle, WA) supplies BMC⁴I (Battle Management, Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence).
TRW, Redondo Beach, CA
Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, CA. (has datasheet)
Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space

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Type : 6 COIL (Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser) modules in series world's shortest wavelength, high-power chemical laser
Wavelength : 1.315 mm
Weight : 1.5 tons per module (6 modules on ABL)
Power : Megawatt class.
Range : several hundred km (when missiles emerge from above the clouds)
Aircraft : 747-400 commercial freighter
Altitude : 12,000 meters
Operational time : 12-18 hour mission
Date of Completion : 2003
Fuel supply : 20-40 missiles destroyed
Fuel cost : $1,000 worth of chemicals per missile, 10³ times less than a defensive missile.

Diagram of ABL. From ABL cutaway on Team ABL site
Nose Mounted Turret (Lockheed Martin). From ABL cutaway
- 1.5 m telescope in turret focuses beams on missile and collects return image and signals
- ±120 field-of-regard (azimuth)
- Extensive wind-tunnel tests by Boeing validate the design
- Flightweight composite construction
- Window stows until on cloud and dust-free aircraft orbit
- Protected against bird and lightning strike
Active Laser Ranger. From ABL cutaway
- Modified 3^rd generation LANTIRN with high-power CO₂ laser
- Acquires target from IRST sensor cue, tracks target, and points CO₂ laser for ranging
- Helps determine missile launch point and impact point
Crew Safety (Boeing). From ABL cutaway
- Station 1000 bulkhead/airlock provides controlled access to laser area in rear of aircraft
- Continuous remote- environment monitoring
Illuminator Lasers. From ABL cutaway
- Tracking illuminator laser (TILL)
- Beacon illuminator laser (BILL)
- Lasers are state-of-the-art diode- pumped, solid state devices
High Energy Laser. From ABL cutaway
- Chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) technology
- World record for chemical efficiency set by TRW
- Advanced materials-plastics, composites, titanium-used to reduce weight
- Modular design allows for graceful degradation
- Closed chemical system with recirculating reactants
- Designed for aircraft safety and field maintainability
747-400 Freighter. From ABL cutaway
- 747-400 Freighter was determined to be the optimum airframe for this mission
- Boeing 747 page
Engines. From ABL cutaway
- GE selected based on competitive bid
- CF6-80C2B5F is the highest thrust-rated engine (61,500 lb) available for 747-400
- Extensive reliability and service history
Battle Management. From ABL cutaway
- Human-machine interface
- Surveillance and tracking
- Launch and impact point predictions
- Theater interoperability and communications
- Target detection, identification, prioritization, and nomination
- Modular console construction
- Commercial hardware
- Common data/voice links (LINK 16/IBS) to joint theater assets
- Open systems architecture
- Boeing specs for BMC (PDF)
Deployment Storage. From ABL cutaway
- Space designed into forward lower fuselage to support initial deployment requirements
Beam Control System. From ABL cutaway
- Target acquisition and tracking
- Fire-control engagement sequencing, aim point-and-kill assessment
- High-energy laser (HEL) beam wavefront control and atmospheric compensation
- Jitter control, alignment/beam-walk control, and beam containment for HEL and illuminator lasers
- Calibration and diagnostics provide autonomous real-time operations and postmission analysis
Tracking, pointing and main lasers : a four-laser system to monitor atmospheric distortions, track and destroy missiles.
1. IR sensors made for F-14 fighter planes detect target and pass information to modified Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pod.
2. The pod directs a laser beam at target to determine its x, y, z coordinates.
3. A Tracking and Illuminating Laser (TIL) illuminates missile nose, then a Beacon laser fires at missile.
4. The Beacon's reflected energy is analyzed by wavefront sensors and information fed to the deformable mirrors that predistort ABL's main laser beam compensating for atmospheric distortions.
Laser mechanism :
- Uniform droplets are created by continuously flowing hydrogen peroxide liquid, H₂O₂, and potassium hydroxide, KOH (or hair bleach and Drano). The fluid is passed through a device resembling a vibrating shower head.
- Droplets interact with chlorine (Cl₂) and helium gas (He), creating singlet delta oxygen, O₂(¹D) and waste products such as heat and potassium chloride (KCl)
- Iodine (I₂) is injected just before expansion, a chemical reaction produces a laser photon :
  - I₂ + O₂^* ® I₂^* + O₂ O₂(¹D) first excites I₂
  - I₂^* + O₂^* ® 2 I + O₂ another O₂(¹D) dissociates excited I₂ into 2 iodine atoms
  - I + O₂^* ® I^* + O₂ Yet another O₂(¹D) tranfers energy to the iodine atom
  - I^* ® I + photon Excited iodine atom emits a laser photon
- The mixture expands supersonically through a nozzle. (see Computational fluid dynamics simulation of a COIL laser).
- Sealed exhaust system : to save weight some of the chemicals are recycled. H₂O₂ is recycled through the system several times until it's bleached beyond usefulness.
- Laser photons are amplified in a laser cavity consisting of two parallel mirrors placed around expanding gas.
- The beam emerging from the resonator propagates to the next module (out of 6) for further amplification.
- A series of high-precision steering mirrors direct the beam and correct for low-order distortion effects such as the vibration of the plane.
- The adaptive optics deformable mirror has 341 actuators that change at 1,000 Hz to correct for high-order effects such as optical turbulence that can cause beam diffraction and wavefront distortions.
Turret Assembly : (see also)
- Primary Mirror:
  - Purpose : Target acquisition, tracking and beam direction
  - Dimensions :
    - Diameter : 1.6 meters
    - Thickness : 20 cm
  - Location : mounted in turret ball on front of aircraft
  - Manufacturers :
    - produced by Corning Glass, N. Y (Apr, 1999)
    - polished by Contraves Brashear Systems, L.P., (Pittsburgh)
- Nose Cone Conformal Window: (see also FAS, Aug 1999)
  - Diagram
  - Photo (also lower resolution image) from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space ABL photo archive
  - Size : 1.8 meters (largest ever optical-quality domed conformal window manufactured)
  - Weight : 150 kg
  - Materials : unique materials to meet stringent high-energy laser beam transmission requirements
  - Location : mounted on turret ball on front of aircraft
  - Manufacturers :
    - produced by Heraeus Quarzglas (Hanau, Germany) and Heraeus Amersil (Duluth, Ga.)
    - shaped by Corning, Inc. (Canton, N.Y.) Aug 1999
    - polished and coated by Contraves-Brashear Systems (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    - installed in composite turret ball by Lockheed Martin
Beam transfer assembly (from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space ABL site)
- automatic target acquisition
- laser alignment and pointing
specifications (PDF)
Boeing wind tunnel tests in Seattle on a model of a modified 747 to confirm the design of the nose turret that will aim the laser and on the laser exhaust system. See also a closer view. From ABL Team - Pics & Clips and also See also from Air Force Technology : ABL YAL A1
TRW technicians preparing Flight-weighted Laser Module (FLM) which generates power in the multi-hundred kilowatt range, at Capistrano Test Site in Orange County, Calif. From ABL Team - Pics & Clips See also. 6 FLMs are linked together in ABL. From Air Force Technology : ABL YAL A1
Victor Buonadonna, senior systems engineer, left, and Dea Good, systems engineer, examine exhaust ports on underside of ABL 747 model. From ABL Team - Pics & Clips See also from Air Force Technology : ABL YAL A1
ABL main laser and beacon laser firing at a target. From ABL Team - Pics & Clips
Lockheed Martin and TRW working on scaled laser beam control system. (Brassboard Test) (also higher resolution image) Photo credits, Russ Underwood, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space ABL photo archive See smaller identical version of photo, where the researcher is not wearing protective eyewear ?! From Air Force Technology : ABL YAL A1
Artist conception of ABL 'firing' a shot (also higher resolution image) from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space ABL photo archive see smaller version from Air Force Technology : ABL YAL A1
Movie of ABL tracking missile's bright infrared exhaust and interesting laser turret motions from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space ABL video archive
Laser Will Knock Down Enemy Missiles, By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service (source Defence Link. Feb, 1999)
Fire Control Assembly uses realtime software and embedded processor to control target engagement (see also specifications (PDF))
Diagram of laser components and beam path on the aircraft from specifications (PDF)
Flame produced by a COIL laser. From UIUC Chemical Laser Group
Computer simulation of I₂ molecule nozzle concentration after it penetrates and mixes with the main flow. (from Madden,T.: 1997 PhD Thesis using GASP software.
Distribution of iodine in nozzle, cross-section is through centerline of large injection hole from Detailed COIL performance calculations. Lampson,A.I. et al. Maui High Performance Computing Center
Artist impression of aircraft firing ABL immediately after missile launch detected. from Air Force Technology : ABL YAL A1
Laser range versus theater missile hardness from Missile defense in modern war by Gregory H. Canavan
Dr. Keith Truesdell demonstrating the VertiCoil a smaller version of the ABL laser. (at Phillips Lab where the COIL laser was invented in 1977) (a smaller image) from 'Set Lasers on Stun', Airman magazine, April 1997
Oscura-3 facility 1-meter telescope on 8,000-foot North Oscura Peak measures atmospheric distortions towards Salinas Peak (approx. 57 km south) using a 300 W tracking laser, a 50-200 W adaptive-optics beacon laser and a 10-40 W scoring laser which acts as a surrogate for high-energy laser weapons. A Cessna Caravan aircraft was also used as a target. Dynamic compensation experiment for beam control system demonstrated up to a factor 20 improvement between uncompensated and compensated laser spots. From Air Force Research Laboratory, White Sands Missile Range, N.M. (AFPN) Jan. 22, 1999 see also Lab completes laser experiment, Sep, 1999. Air Force News.
Another view of Oscura 3 facility. FromHardin, R.W.: 1999, OE Reports 184, April. Megawatt laser moves airborne defense into new era.

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