Video: So Long, Airborne Laser...
We hardly knew ye:
The MDA at one time had plans to field operational versions of the ABL for boost-phase missile defense, but the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has scaled back the program. Plans now call for using the experimental ABL platform as a test bed for research on directed energy weapons. Depending on available funding, the aircraft may conduct up to two more flight tests this year, MDA Executive Director David Altwegg said Feb. 1. However, Lehner said Feb. 12 that no additional flight tests are currently scheduled. Following the flight test program, management of the ABL will be transferred from MDA to the Office of the Pentagon’s Director of Defense Research and Engineering and the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office, MDA budget documents show. The ABL has a $182.3 million budget for this year, but the MDA did not request any money for the program in 2011.
So despite having its budget cut out from under it last year, the ABL still
amazed the world by making history Thursday. And as it's hauled back into the hangar, here's my Valentine video for the ABL: