Boeing to Provide Test Bed for High-Energy Laser Systems

Boeing Co. will provide a mobile active targeting resource for integrated experiments (Matrix) test bed to enable the development of beam and fire control for high-energy laser weapons systems, under a $23 million, 48-month contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. The company will demonstrate techniques designed to address laser energy propagation and aim-point maintenance.

The modular design of the test bed will enable the integration of sensing techniques and subsystems, including polarimetry, short-pulse imaging, advanced tracking and hyper/multispectral sensing, that have applications in a variety of laser systems. The Matrix technology will evaluate and select optimal approaches to sensing, algorithms and beam control.