Megawatt-class Airborne Laser First Flight Firing

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Aug. 20, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — One flight. Three more ‘firsts’ for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser (ABL). And a victory for ‘laser alignment.’

Those were the primary achievements the airborne directed energy system chalked up when its high-power Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) was fired in-flight for the first time Aug. 18. In the process, ABL became:

• The first mobile, megawatt-class laser
• The first airborne, megawatt-class laser, and
• The most powerful laser ever to be operated during an actual flight…

via Airborne Laser Keeps Optical Components Aligned Perfectly to Achieve First Flight Firing of Northrop Grumman-Built Laser (NYSE:NOC).

High powered lasers may in time provide a method to transmit large amounts of energy between satellites in space or perhaps even between power stations located thousands of kilometres apart on earth via sattelites. This laser is currently being designed, built and tested for military purposes yet it may eventually contribute to essential technology for space-based energy systems.