“We accomplished things that had never been done and that experts said couldn’t be done.” – Robert Vets, who served in a variety of engineering and team lead roles on the Airborne Laser program, now with the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Innovation Center PHOTOS: (Left) The Airborne Laser Test Bed, a modified 747-400, flies over Edwards AFB, Calif. U.S. AIR FORCE (Inset) The beam from the laser was directed through this optic in the aircraft’s nose. KURTISS HUMPHREY/BOEING was assembled and tested, the COIL was Robert Vets, who served in a variety of the Western Sea Range off the coast of the highest-energy laser ever fired from an systems engineering and team lead roles Southern California. At 8:44 p.m. Pacific aircraft and the most powerful mobile laser on the Airborne Laser program between time, a short-range ballistic missile was device in the world. 1997 and this year, said the difficulty of the launched from a mobile launch platform The program, which averaged 500–600 program’s goal made it attractive. on the ocean. employees and peaked at about 1,200 “The Airborne Laser is an important With a mix of Airborne Laser employees, people, was never large, but it was the type of program because we accomplished military officials and others watching from a highest-profile program in Boeing’s laser things that had never been done and that control room at Naval Base Ventura County weapons portfolio for a long time, said experts said couldn’t be done,” said Vets, Point Mugu in California, the Airborne Laser Dale Parkes, who was lead engineer for now a project engineer for Boeing Com- aircraft’s sensors detected the boosting the Airborne Laser’s fire control system. mercial Airplanes’ Innovation Center. “It’s missile and tracked it with a low-energy “At one point at the Albuquerque, important for Boeing to have programs laser. The aircraft then fired a second low- N.M., site, almost everybody had worked that do the impossible and push the energy laser to measure and compensate on this program. It became an area for frontiers of technology.” for atmospheric disturbance. Finally, the career development in addition to the He and other alums remember well the Airborne Laser Test Bed fired the high- intellectual property and technology,” evening of Feb. 11, 2010, the program’s energy COIL, which heated the boosting said Parkes, now technical lead engineer shining moment. The Airborne Laser ballistic missile to critical structural failure. for Modeling and Simulation in Boeing’s Test Bed aircraft took off from Edwards “Seeing that missile get destroyed, it Directed Energy Systems organization. Air Force Base that day and headed for was remarkable,” Flanders said. “Given BOEING FRONTIERS / AUGUST 2012 29
Frontiers August 2012 Issue
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