Boeing Company,
WASHINGTON: Boeing Co. and its partners on Tuesday warned that congressional efforts to slash funding for the $3.8 billion Airborne Laser missile-interceptor project would cripple the program, if enacted into law.
Boeing, the prime contractor for the program, and its partners, Northrop Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. began work in 1996 on the Airborne Laser, or ABL, a high energy laser that sits aboard a modified Boeing 747 to hit enemy ballistic missiles shortly after they are fired by North Korea or Iran.
The program's cost recently rose by just over $200 million to around $3.8 billion, company officials said.
The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee last week slashed $400 million from the Missile Defense Agency's $549 million request for the ABL program, and the full committee is likely to approve the move on Wednesday.
“The cut proposed is drastic. It would cripple the program at this point,” Greg Hyslop, Boeing's ABL program manager told reporters on a teleconference.
He said the proposed cut was troubling, since the program had reported a series of successful developments over the past few years, including ground tests of the powerful laser. The program is now doing flight tests ahead of a planned 2009 shootdown using the ABL on a mock enemy ballistic missile.
That shootdown recently slipped back six months from an earlier date in 2008, but Hyslop said the delay stemmed from the immense complexity of the project and was not alarming.
The program was akin to “trying to install the Hubble telescope inside the fuselage of an airplane,” he said. Software and logistics issues that prompted the delay had already been addressed, he said.
Hyslop said it was still early in the budget process, and Boeing and its partners were meeting with the other relevant congressional committees to stave off cuts by those panels.
“Given the importance of the boost phase mission and the proximity of demonstrating ABL's capabilities, it would be imprudent to cripple or terminate this program just when we are on the cusp of demonstrating ABL's capability.
He said Boeing had briefed the command in charge of U.S. forces in South Korea about the ABL's ability to defend against missile attacks. Discussions also were under way about other possible uses, including as a defense against cruise missile attacks and attacks by other aircraft.
