The seven tests -- two for the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) program, one for the U.S. Air Force/Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's Alpha Laser Optimization (ALO) program, and four for the U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command's Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) program -- were performed at TRW's Capistrano Test Site, near San Clemente, Calif.

"This unprecedented pace of high-power laser testing demonstrates the breadth and depth of TRW's ability to develop, produce and test high-energy lasers for the nation's most significant missile defense systems," said Joanne Maguire, vice president and general manager of TRW's Space & Laser Programs Division.

"The string of successes not only validates the company's growing confidence in the maturity and robustness of high-energy laser technologies, but also highlights the knowledge and technical leadership of the TRW personnel that develop, manage and carry out these laser test plans."

The successful week of testing is underpinned, she added, by TRW's 35-year commitment to develop and maintain laser test facilities that can accommodate this rate of testing.

On Monday, Aug. 9, and Wednesday, Aug. 11, TRW conducted high- power tests of the ABL flight-weighted laser module (FLM-3), a prototype for the "building block" laser modules that will be used to create the ABL's 747-mounted megawatt-class laser. The FLM-3 is a multi-hundred-kilowatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL).

The FLM-3 tests were part of an ongoing risk-reduction program designed to optimize the performance of the laser in support of creating a detailed design for the first ABL flight version laser module. Fabrication of that first flight module is slated to begin this fall.

On Tuesday, Aug. 10, TRW conducted a high-power test of the megawatt-class hydrogen fluoride Alpha laser, one of the nation's most powerful chemical lasers. The test was designed to understand the impact of recent changes in the alignment of Alpha's key optical components on its overall performance.

The test was conducted as part of the Alpha Laser Optimization (ALO) program, whose goal is to achieve a more thorough understanding of the Alpha laser's performance -- i.e., how subtle changes in its design or chemical reactant flow affect its overall performance.

Results from the ALO program are expected to benefit the long- term development of laser design tools that can accurately predict laser performance from a given hardware design. Improvements in the laser design process will reduce the development time and overall costs associated with developing and deploying the Air Force/BMDO- funded Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL-IFX).

Between Thursday, Aug. 12, and Saturday, Aug. 14, TRW also conducted four high-power optimization tests of the THEL laser subsystem.

The tests were part of an ongoing effort to characterize and "fine-tune" the performance of THEL's deuterium fluoride laser before its integration with the other major THEL subsystems. That integration process is expected to begin at the U.S. Army's High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., this fall.

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.

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