The prototype Airborne Laser successfully used its passive sensors to autonomously locate, acquire, target, and track an afterburning F-16 fighter moving vertically at a rapid rate of ascent, Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, said in a May 9 statement. It was the first such test for the ABL. Obering called it “a significant milestone” that demonstrated a “number of key system capabilities.” Obering has said that ABL is on course to pass a series of “knowledge points” leading to a lethal shootdown of a boosting missile in 2009; however, Congress may be inclined to curtail the program in favor of other priorities.
Some Colorado officials are seeking to distance themselves from the state’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Huntsville, Ala.—signaling a decreased appetite for extending the yearslong political debate that has dogged the combatant command’s future plans.
