The Airborne Laser has aced another “significant development milestone,” says Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, when it successfully completed its first of two low power system integration-active flight test knowledge points. In other words, the ABL’s battle management and beam control/fire control systems tracked, targeted, and engaged an airborne target. More tests follow before technicians install the aircraft’s Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser later this year at Edwards AFB, Calif.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
