Boeing is in the midst of “low power” flight tests for the advanced tactical laser and expects to conclude the tests, which employ a C-130H from Air Force Materiel Command’s 46th Test Wing, later this fall. During the testing at White Sands Missile Range, a Boeing news release says the ATL aircraft will “find and track ground targets,” using a “low-power solid-state laser as surrogate for the ATL’s high-power chemical laser. The company, which generated “first light” in ground tests of the ATL’s laser last month, plans to install the ATL laser on the C-130H and fire it in-flight at representative ground targets some time next year.
The Air Force has selected Collins Aerospace and Shield AI to develop the software Collaborative Combat Aircraft will use to fly missions alongside manned fighters, the service revealed Feb. 12—and drone-maker General Atomics was quick to announce it has already flown its YFQ-42A aircraft with Collins’ system.
