The scheduled August 2009 shoot-down demonstration of the Airborne Laser will not by itself be enough to prove the weapon meets requirements, the commander of the program office said last week in Washington. Follow-on tests of the platform must occur before the laser is ready to go into production, he added. Unless the program office discovers something considered anywhere between "concerning" and "hideous" between now and August 2009, the ABL's in-flight shoot-down demonstration will occur as scheduled, Col. Robert McMurry,...
