Team ABL Achieves Critical Laser Risk Reduction Milestone.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 1997--In a display of its commitment to reduce development risk for the Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) system, Team ABL -- Boeing, TRW, Lockheed Martin -- has demonstrated that the laser's most critical component, the singlet oxygen generator (SOG), can meet its ABL mission requirement.

The SOG is the hardware that produces the excited oxygen "fuel" for the TRW-designed chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL).

The test program, conducted under Team ABL's contract with the Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center, Kirtland AFB, N.M., was completed earlier this month at TRW's Advanced COIL Engineering facility in Redondo Beach. The tests were performed using a section, or "slice," of the ABL flight-weighted laser module (FLM). The FLM is the "building block" for the ABL system's high-energy laser.

"We designed the `mini-FLM' tests not only to validate the design and performance of the SOG, but also to reduce laser risk prior to testing the FLM in April 1998," said Joanne Maguire, vice president and general manager, TRW Space & Technology Division. "The recent tests significantly strengthen our confidence that the FLM will successfully meet its performance requirements next year."

Successful demonstration of the FLM is one of several "exit criteria" that must be satisfied for Team ABL to reach the Air Force's first "authority-to-proceed" (ATP) program milestone in June 1998.

Paul Shennum, Boeing vice president and director of Team ABL's joint program office, pointed out that the mini-FLM test was not part of the originally proposed ABL program. "By performing these early, non-lasing tests at TRW, we have cost-effectively reduced the program's technical risk, reduced the cost and schedule risk of next spring's FLM testing, and moved Team ABL another step closer to meeting the requirements of the Air Force's first ATP milestone."

The SOG, developed and built by STI Optronics, Bellevue, Wash., is the site of the chemical reactions that determine, in large part, the power and overall performance of ABL system laser. Its primary function is to release, through a carefully controlled liquid/gas reaction, the chemical energy stored in basic hydrogen peroxide (BHP), one of the COIL's primary chemical reactants.

Within the SOG, BHP is reacted with chlorine gas to produce a highly excited form of oxygen called singlet delta oxygen. These molecules contain the energy that is eventually released as the COIL's beam of infrared energy. The more efficiently the SOG generates excited oxygen from BHP, the lower the overall weight of chemicals required to maintain ABL system performance.

In the course of an ABL mission, a fixed load of BHP is recycled through the SOG, reacting with chlorine gas each time the laser is fired. With each laser firing, more and more oxygen is extracted from the BHP and released as singlet delta oxygen, thereby depleting the BHP's store of chemical energy.

The SOG has been very carefully designed by TRW and STI Optronics to maintain the production rate of excited oxygen molecules required for laser performance, even as BHP conditions change.

During the mini-FLM testing, 16 tests were conducted with a single batch of BHP to simulate an environment where the oxygen content of the BHP decreased over time. The tests verified that the SOG could generate sufficient excited oxygen to meet ABL mission requirements under these dynamic conditions.

The ABL weapon system will use a high-energy chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted on a 747-400F freighter aircraft to shoot down theater ballistic missiles in their boost phase. It will protect civilian and key military assets from attack by missiles such as the Scuds used by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War.

In November 1996, Team ABL received a five-year, $1.1 billion program development and risk reduction (PDRR) contract to develop, build and flight-test the first prototype ABL demonstration system. For Team ABL, Boeing serves as overall system integrator, TRW provides the high-energy COIL laser, and Lockheed Martin handles the beam control.

TRW has been engaged in the research and development of lasers since 1961. Today, the company designs and develops a variety of lasers, including high-energy hydrogen fluoride lasers, deuterium fluoride lasers, oxygen iodine lasers and diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Based in Cleveland, TRW provides advanced-technology products and services for the automotive and space and defense markets worldwide. Its 1996 sales were approximately $10 billion.

CONTACT: TRW

Brooks McKinney, 310/814-8177

or

Boeing

Randolph Harrison, 206/655-8632