Uploaded January 2010 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
January 10, 2010 - The Airborne Laser (ABL) research and development platform successfully fired the onboard High Energy Laser (HEL) to engage an instrumented target missile, called a Missile Alternative Range Target Instrument (MARTI). This test demonstrated the full functionality of the ABL system to successfully acquire, track, and engage a boosting target. Test instrumentation aboard the MARTI collected data to evaluate ABL laser system performance. This test engagement was not intended to lethally destroy the missile. The MARTI was launched from San Nicolas Island, located in the Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range, off the central California coast. This test provides data to support the ABL platform's attempt of the first lethal shootdown of a boosting ballistic missile using directed energy technology, scheduled for 2010.
http://www.mda.mil/news/gallery_abl.html
January 10, 2010 - The Airborne Laser (ABL) research and development platform successfully fired the onboard High Energy Laser (HEL) to engage an instrumented target missile, called a Missile Alternative Range Target Instrument (MARTI). This test demonstrated the full functionality of the ABL system to successfully acquire, track, and engage a boosting target. Test instrumentation aboard the MARTI collected data to evaluate ABL laser system performance. This test engagement was not intended to lethally destroy the missile. The MARTI was launched from San Nicolas Island, located in the Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range, off the central California coast. This test provides data to support the ABL platform's attempt of the first lethal shootdown of a boosting ballistic missile using directed energy technology, scheduled for 2010.
http://www.mda.mil/news/gallery_abl.html
