An airborne laser destroys an aerial target for the first time when the Airborne Laser Laboratory (ALL), a modified KC-135 aircraft armed with a carbon dioxide laser, shot down a drone over White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Two years later, the ALL successfully shoots down five Sidewinder air- to-air missiles, proving its utility as an antimissile system.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
