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.
As the Space Force prepares to field new fleets of satellites that can track moving targets in the air and on the ground, it’s working to ensure it has the organizational structures in place to onboard and operate those systems.
