Calling it a history-making test, Boeing announced that its airborne laser destroyed a boosting ballistic missile for the first time. The aircraft that fired the lasers is a Boeing Wichita-modified 747-400F aircraft. You can watch the video and see photos here.
It marks the first time a laser weapon has destroyed an in-flight ballistic missile and the first time a system has done it in the missile’s boost stage of flight, Boeing said.
“With the successful experiment, the Airborne Laser Testbed has blazed a path for a new generation of high-energy, ultra-precision weaponry,” Boeing vice president Michael Rinn said in a statement.
The laser tracks, engages and destroys missiles as they’re in the boost phase of flight.
