The Boeing YAL-1
Airborne Laser An airborne laser (ABL) is a laser system operated from a flying platform, as in the:
* Soviet/Russian Beriev A-60 (1981, active)
* American Boeing YAL-1 (2002-2012, scrapped)
* An American modified NKC-135A unit (1975-1984, in storage.) Developm ...
Testbed (formerly Airborne Laser) weapons system was a megawatt-class
chemical oxygen iodine laser
A chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) is a near–infrared chemical laser. As the beam is infrared, it cannot be seen with the naked eye. It is capable of output power scaling up to megawatts in continuous mode. Its output wavelength is 1315 ...
(COIL) mounted inside a modified military
Boeing 747-400F
The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747.
The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targetin ...
. It was primarily designed as a
missile defense system to destroy
tactical ballistic missile
A tactical ballistic missile (TBM), or battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM), is a ballistic missile designed for short-range battlefield use. Typically, range is less than . Tactical ballistic missiles are usually mobile to ensure sur ...
s (TBMs) while in
boost phase A ballistic missile goes through several distinct phases of flight that are common to almost all such designs. They are, in order:
* boost phase when the main boost rocket or upper stages are firing;
* post-boost phase when any last-minute changes t ...
. The aircraft was designated YAL-1A in 2004 by the
U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
.
The YAL-1 with a low-power laser was test-fired in flight at an airborne target in 2007. A high-energy laser was used to intercept a test target in January 2010,
and the following month, successfully destroyed two test missiles.