Northrop Grumman’s ABL Overview 2009

The Missile Defense Agency is preparing the 747-400F-based Airborne Laser for its most critical test — a shootdown of a boosting ballistic missile — later this year. After years of delays and cost overruns, the industry team – Boeing, Northrop and Lockheed — are hoping to prove the technology can work. This video isn’t new. But, one notable point raised in it is that the target for this test will be a foreign miltiary asset, meaning an actual threat missile, not a U.S. reproduciton of one. Also of note, while ABL wouldn’t require fixed ground assets, it would need a massive support infrastructure — including logistics for the volitile chemicals — to actually operate. The source for this video is Northrop Grumman; it was distributed at the SMDC 2009 conference in Huntsville, Ala., last week.