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 Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center |
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The Nuclear Weapons Center was established on March 31, 2006, and renamed the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center on February 29, 2008.
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| It is Air Force Materiel Command’s center of expertise for nuclear weapon systems. The AFNWC is the single AFMC voice for integrating nuclear weapon systems requirements and nuclear weapon system resource management. The center is the primary unit servicing Kirtland AFB and its more than 100 mission partners. |
| The mission of the AFNWC is to ensure safe, secure and reliable nuclear weapons are available to support the national command structure and Air Force war fighter. |
| The AFNWC’s vision is to be the Air Force’s Center of Excellence for all nuclear weapon systems activities.
The responsibilities of the AFNWC include acquisition, modernization and sustainment of nuclear system programs for both the Departments of Defense and Energy.
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| The center is composed of two wings: the 377th Air Base Wing and the 498th Armament Systems Wing, both at Kirtland AFB, N.M., and units in Germany, Oklahoma and Utah. |
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| 498th Armament Systems Wing |
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| The 498th Nuclear Systems Wing is responsible for sustainment of nuclear munitions and cruise missiles. The 498 NSW is composed of three groups and includes the operation of two munitions maintenance and storage complexes, one at Kirtland AFB, N.M., along with the 498th Missile Sustainment Group, Tinker AFB, Okla. |
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| The mission encompasses the entire scope of nuclear weapon system support functions, including sustainment, modernization and acquisition support activities for both the DOD and DOE. |
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| 377th Air Base Wing |
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| The 377th Air Base Wing is the host organization at Kirtland AFB. It was activated under Air Force Materiel Command on Jan. 1, 1993 and became part of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center on March 31, 2006. The wing operates and maintains the Air Force’s sixth-largest base and a U.S. Air Force/Veterans Affairs joint medical facility. The 377th ABW provides worldwide readiness, security, and support for the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, the 498th Nuclear Systems Wing and more than 100 associate units, including two flying wings, the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, the Air Force Safety Center, the Air Force Inspection Agency, two Air Force Research |
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| Laboratory directorates, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories. |
| The 377th Air Base Wing remains in a constant state of readiness and its Airmen are continually deployed. More than 1,000 people are trained and ready for deployment to any destination at any time. |
| The 377th Air Base Wing’s vision to be the model operation support installation is built around a highly trained, well-equipped and efficiently organized workforce. With the workforce firmly focused and committed to this vision, the 377th Air Base Wing will continue to be a model Air Force organization. |
| The wing also provides quality and professional support services to the Kirtland AFB community’s active-duty, retirees, dependents and civilians, with services such as security, medical, housing, fire protection and transportation support. |
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| 58th Special Operations Wing |
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| The 58th Special Operations Wing is a major unit in 19th Air Force, under the Air Education Training Command. The wing’s mission is to train mission-ready special operations, combat search and rescue, missile site support and UH-1 distinguished visitor airlift aircrews in direct support of Air Expeditionary Forces to eight Air Force major commands. |
| The 58th SOW owns and maintains multiple helicopter types, including the HH-60G Pave Hawk and UH-1N Huey and three types of fixed-wing aircraft -- the MC-130H Combat Talon II, the MC-130P Combat Shadow and the HC-130P/N Combat King. Coming soon to the inventory is the C-130J Super Hercules. The wing also flies the tiltrotor CV-22 Osprey. The wing is comprised of an operations and maintenance group. |
| The operations group offers training in more than 100 different syllabi in seven types of fixed |
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| and rotary-wing aircraft. The curriculum includes classroom instruction, simulator training and flying. |
| The maintenance group supports flying operations by performing a full range of flight line and intermediate-level aircraft systems maintenance, refurbishment, support equipment maintenance and fabrication services for the aircraft. It also provides maintenance staff oversight, consisting of aircraft scheduling, analysis, training and quality assurance. Finally, the group serves as the jet engine intermediate maintenance activity for Air Force H-1 and H-60 helicopters. |
| The 58th SOW also provides Airmen and airlift needed to respond swiftly to global crises and assists civilian authorities in regional rescues. In the last 25 years, wing aircraft have flown many rescue missions, saving almost 300 lives. |
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| 150th Fighter Wing, New Mexico Air National Guard |
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| The New Mexico Air National Guard was federally recognized July 7, 1947, as the 188th Fighter Bomber Squadron. The unit consisted of a utility flight equipped with Douglas B-26 light bombers, a fighter squadron composed of 100 Airmen flying 25 P-51 Mustangs and three T-2 trainers, plus a small weather detachment. The 188th’s mission was changed from fighter-bomber to fighter-interceptor in 1948. |
| In December 1950, the unit was called to active duty for the Korean Conflict. Fifty-four officers and 400 enlisted Airmen consolidated with other Air Force units and dispatched to Japan and Korea. 1st Lts. Robert Lucas and Joseph Murray were killed while flying close air support missions in Korea. Capt. Francis Williams and 1st Lt. Robert Sands were credited with three MiG-15 kills. The unit was released from federal active duty in November 1952. In 1957, it was redesignated and federally recognized as the 150th Tactical Fighter Group. In June 1992, the unit became the 150th Fighter Group. In October 1995, the unit was renamed the 150th Fighter Wing. |
| In January 1968, the group was activated as a result of the Pueblo Crisis, and in June, the group’s 188th Tactical Fighter Squadron and approximately 250 maintenance and support Airmen were deployed to Tuy Hoa Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. Remaining group members were assigned to various bases in South Korea. The unit flew more than 6,000 combat sorties in the F-100 Super Sabre and amassed more than 630 medals and decorations before release from federal active duty in June 1969. Capt. Michael Adams was killed in action and Maj. Bobby Neeld and 1st Lt. Mitchell Lane were listed as missing in action. The unit received the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with a bronze “V” for valor. |
| The 150th was partially activated in support of Operation Desert Storm. On Dec. 11, 1990, 44 members of the 150th Security Police Flight and other unit Airmen deployed to Saudi Arabia. All returned home by May 1991. In February 1997, the unit and six aircraft deployed to Aviano Air Base, Italy, in support of Operation Joint Guard. In April 1998, the 150th participated in Operation Southern Watch in Kuwait as part of the continuing enforcement of the “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq. Approximately 100 guardsmen and six aircraft participated. Most recently, the unit was again partially mobilized in support of Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The “Tacos” have been deployed to every continent (^top of section) |
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| except Antarctica. The ops tempo of the unit is ever-increasing, with the advent of the Air Expeditionary Force and ECS participation. At any given time, a New Mexico Air Guardsman is deployed somewhere in the world. |
| The New Mexico Air National Guard has operated several aircraft types throughout its history, including the F-80, F-86, F-100, A-7D and F-16C/D. Major accomplishments of the unit have included being the first Air National Guard unit to receive the F-100 and A-7D fighter aircraft; first Air National Guard unit to receive the low-altitude navigation and targeting infrared for night-equipped F-16C fighter aircraft; first Air National Guard unit to be assigned to the prestigious Rapid Deployment Force (now known as the U.S. Central Command); first Air National Guard unit to participate in Bright Star joint service exercises in Southwest Asia; and first Air National Guard unit to receive the Low Altitude Night Attack modification to the A-7. The Group received the Spaatz Trophy in 1956, the Winston P. Wilson Trophy in 1980, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award in 1989, top A-7 Gunsmoke Team in 1989 and 1991, the Distinguished Flying Unit Award in 1991, and Outstanding Air National Guard Unit in 1991. |
| Today, the New Mexico Air National Guard is composed of State Headquarters, the 150th Fighter Wing, and 16 subordinate units with an authorized strength of approximately 125 officers and 875 enlisted Airmen. Its primary mission is air interdiction in support of 12th Air Force, Air Combat Command, NATO and U.S. Central Command operations plans and objectives. In addition to its primary mission, the wing also maintains and executes a Defense Systems Evaluation tasking, which provides fighter aircraft support to the U.S. Army Air Defense Center and White Sands Missile Range. The unit also has Airmen assigned to the 64th Civil Support Team Weapons of Mass Destruction program. |
| The wing maintains 21 F-16C/D jet fighters and one C-26 support aircraft. More than 340 full-time Airmen provide daily maintenance and support operations. |
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| Air Force Inspection Agency (AFIA) |
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| The Air Force Inspection Agency, headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., is a Field Operating Agency that reports to the Secretary of the Air Force Inspector General. |
| Mission: The Air Force Inspection Agency is the primary action arm of the Secretary of the Air Force’s inspection system. The agency provides independent and timely assessments of acquisition, nuclear surety, operations, logistics, support and healthcare to Air Force senior leadership by identifying critical deficiencies and recommending improvements for accomplishing peacetime and wartime missions; and evaluates Air Force activities, staff and policies. Additionally, AFIA provides legal and compliance oversight of all Air Force-level Field Operating Agencies and Direct Reporting Units. |
| Organization: AFIA is organized into three inspection directorates and one mission support directorate. |
| The Eagle Look (EL) Directorate provides strategic-level support and consultation to improve efficiency and effectiveness of Air Force processes by working collaboratively with customers at all levels to produce incremental action plans that improve processes and institutionalize continuous process improvement. |
| The Inspection & Oversight (IO) Directorate schedules, coordinates and executes Compliance Inspections and Nuclear Surety Inspection Oversight assessments. The directorate is the Air Force Inspector General’s action arm, responsible for oversight of all Air Force Nuclear Surety Inspection Oversight and the conduct of Compliance Inspections of all FOAs and DRUs. |
| The Medical Operations (SG) Directorate performs Health Services Inspections of all Air Force active duty, Reserve and Guard medical units worldwide, in partnership with acknowledged expert civilian accrediting agencies. |
| The Mission Support (MS) Directorate administers the infrastructure for AFIA and manages the staff, financial, information systems, logistics and internal resources to ensure inspectors have the knowledge and equipment to conduct assessments. |
| Products and Services: has four major mission areas: |
| Assists in implementing Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, a program institutionalizing continuous process improvement throughout the Air Force, by incorporating industry best practices, such as Lean, Six Sigma and Theory of Constraints. Trains and certifies facilitators who mentor FOAs and DRUs, and assists Major Commands in developing organic continuous process improvement skills to help solve strategic, operational and tactical issues. |
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| Conducts Health Services Inspections and consultative services to assess/improve medical war plans and readiness, management effectiveness and quality of healthcare delivery at Air Force medical units. Additionally, by agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, AFIA inspects Radioactive Materiel Permits held by the U.S. Air Force. |
| Conducts compliance inspections and nuclear surety inspection oversight assessments that focus on compliance with programs required by federal law, executive order, Department of Defense directives and Air Force policy. Compliance Inspections are conducted on 23 field operating agencies and three direct reporting units. NSI Oversight assessments are done when MAJCOMs conduct NSIs and Joint NSIs. Additionally, an NSI Oversight assessment team accompanies the Defense Threat Reduction Agency as the Air Force representative during the conduct of a Defense NSI. |
| Publishes TIG Brief magazine, a worldwide publication that provides authoritative guidance and information to Airmen to improve the performance of inspectors and those they inspect. TIG Brief includes articles on lessons learned, best practices, anticipated or actual problems, recommendations to improve management, safety, security, inspection and operational techniques, and contemporary issues facing the Air Force. Produced since 1943, it is the Air Force’s oldest publication. |
| History: AFIA traces its roots to 1927, with the establishment of the Inspection Division under the Chief of the Air Corps. The new division performed technical inspections in support of flight safety objectives. By the end of World War II, the function was aligned under the Office of the Air Inspector. In 1948, after the Air Force became a separate service, the Air Force chief of staff designated the Office of the Inspector General to oversee all inspection and safety functions. |
| In the 1950s, all activities were consolidated at Norton AFB, Calif., in the 1002d Inspector General Group, commanded by the Deputy Inspector General for Inspection and Safety. On Dec. 31, 1971, the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center was activated, replacing the 1002d IG Group. In August 1991, the center was divided into the Air Force Inspection Agency and the Air Force Safety Agency (now the Air Force Safety Center). The Air Force Inspection Agency and the Safety Center moved to Kirtland AFB, N.M., in July 1993, due to the closure of Norton AFB. |
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| Sandia National Laboratories |
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| Sandia National Laboratories is a national security lab with the core purpose of “Helping Our Nation Secure a Peaceful and Free World through Technology.” We provide technology solutions to the most challenging problems that threaten peace and freedom. Sandia has two primary facilities: a large laboratory and headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M., and a smaller laboratory in Livermore, Calif. |
| Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory that works primarily for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia also does a variety of national security work for other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. |
| Sandia was created in 1945 as the ordnance design, testing and assembly division of Los Alamos Laboratory, and soon moved to Sandia Base in Albuquerque, N.M., to be near an airfield and work closely with the military. In 1948, the division was renamed Sandia Laboratory and became a separate branch of Los Alamos Laboratory. Both labs were born out of America’s World War II atomic bomb development effort – the Manhattan Project. In 1949, President Harry Truman asked AT&T to manage Sandia as a separate laboratory, which it did for nearly 44 years until Lockheed Martin took over managing Sandia in 1993. |
| Sandia’s primary mission is to ensure the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. We have about 8,300 employees and a total annual budget of about $2.2 billion.
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| The many notable projects that Sandia has worked on or is working on now for the Air Force and other military services include: |
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Developing intelligent systems (robotics) for applying stealth coatings to military aircraft |
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Developing and launching targets for the National Missile Defense Agency, and |
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Developing and testing a variety of technology and hardware for advanced fighter aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor and the Joint Strike Fighter. (^top of section) |
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Sandia’s other missions include nonproliferation and materials control, energy and critical infrastructure R&D, and developing responses to emerging national threats, including terrorism and chemical/ biological warfare. |
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| Five primary core competencies or research foundations include: |
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Computational and Information Sciences |
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Microelectronics and Photonics Sciences |
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Materials and Process Sciences |
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Engineering Sciences |
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Pulsed Power Sciences |
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| Sandia has 24 user facilities — unique R&D facilities available for use by approved U.S. industry, universities, academia, other laboratories, state and local governments, and the scientific community in general. Several of the more heavily used include the Combustion Research Facility, the Explosives Components Facility, the Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center, the Primary Standards Laboratory, and the Shock Technology and Applied Research Facility. |
| Sandia conducts many education programs and activities to interest young people in math, science and engineering. A few examples include coordinating high school Science Bowls in New Mexico and California to select teams for the national Science Bowl; partnering with New Mexico businesses, schools and government groups to conduct the annual School to World career event, giving more than 1,500 students the opportunity to explore many scientific career opportunities; and conducting through the National Atomic Museum summer science camps for about 400 campers each year.
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| For additional information see Sandia’s Web site, www.sandia.gov, or call 505-844-4902. |
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| Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate |
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| As a part of the Air Force Research Laboratory, the DOD’s largest laboratory, the Directed Energy Directorate has a workforce of more than 800 people, an annual budget exceeding $300 million and 670,000 square feet of working space. |
| The directorate places great emphasis on integrating and transitioning research technologies into military systems used by operational commands and maintained by the laboratory’s parent organization, Air Force Materiel Command. |
| One of the laboratory’s 10 directorates, Directed Energy is the Air Force’s center of expertise for the development of high-energy lasers and for getting those technologies to U.S. military forces. Included are semiconductor, gas, fiber, chemical and solid-state lasers. |
| Responsible for developing techniques and technologies to improve optical systems and then transition those systems to warfighting commands, the directorate is also working on systems that will accurately place a beam of laser light on a target, such as an attacking missile. Some of this research is in support of the Airborne Laser, a laser-equipped Boeing 747 freighter aircraft capable of destroying missiles hundreds of miles away. |
| The directorate is the DOD center of excellence for high-power microwave technologies, managing all related research and development. |
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| This includes high-power microwave hardware and systems, as well as protections against an aggressor’s microwave systems. |
| As a part of the directorate, the Starfire Optical Range, a world-class optical research facility, develops optical sensing, imaging and propagation technologies to support Air Force aerospace missions. Primary experiments consist of using adaptive optics to perform real-time compensation for aberrations induced by the atmosphere. In addition, the range conducts research in space object imaging, advanced tracking, nonlinear optics and atmospheric physics.
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| The directorate also has the Air Force’s Advanced Electro-Optical System, the largest telescope in DOD, located atop the 10,000-foot-high volcanic mountain Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii. The system’s space surveillance contributing sensor supports the U.S. Space Command’s Space Object Identification Statement of Need. It supports military and environmental missions and astronomy experiments of universities and other agencies. |
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| Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicle Directorate |
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| Serving as the Air Force’s “center of excellence” for research and development in orbital space, the Space Vehicles Directorate, on the base’s West side, consists of an integrated team of more than 900 military, civilian and on-site contract staff. The mission of the Space Vehicles Directorate is to enable space superiority and the Air Force and DOD to provide the highest level of national security through high technology. As such, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate focuses on developing advanced technology in the following areas: space situational awareness; defensive counterspace; counterspace studies; responsive space; space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as space-based command, control and communication. |
| Three distinct departments conduct the directorate’s core functions. Based at Hanscom AFB, Mass., the Battlespace Environment Division detects and comprehends the threats in the aerospace environment to warfighting systems across the full range of natural and man-made sources. |
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| The Integrated Experiments and Evaluation Division, at Kirtland AFB, designs, incorporates, and demonstrates vital, developing military space concepts. Also at Kirtland, the Spacecraft Technology Division provides technologies to revolutionize space capabilities for global awareness and control of orbital space. |
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| Airborne Laser System Program Office |
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| In the third century BC, the brilliant mathematician Archimedes designed a new weapon to help Syracuse defend itself against a Roman invasion. At his suggestion, workers built a huge concave mirror to reflect and magnify sunlight, directing the reinforced beam against the sails of the invaders’ ships, setting them afire and forcing a Roman retreat. It was the first recorded use of a directed energy weapon. |
| Today, DE weapons are again coming to the forefront, primarily through the development of the Airborne Laser, which now appears to be destined to become the world’s first laser-armed combat aircraft. |
| ABL will be part of the boost phase of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. The ABL program transferred from the U.S. Air Force to the Missile Defense Agency in 2001. ABL is under the direction and management of the Missile Defense Agency, Washington, D.C. |
| ABL is closely aligned with Kirtland AFB. Its predecessor was the Airborne Laser Laboratory developed by the Air Force Weapons Laboratory (now the AF Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate). Housed on a modified Boeing 707, ALL flew in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. It used a rudimentary laser weapon to successfully destroy a handful of air-to-air missiles and Navy drones. After it had passed the “proof of concept” phase, it was taken out of service and sent to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The technology, however, did not die. |
| The invention of the Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser, also at Kirtland’s Weapons Lab in 1977, signaled a major breakthrough for directed energy. Coupled with the release of adaptive optics technology – a product of the Directed Energy Directorate’s Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland – the pieces for ABL began falling into place. |
| On Nov. 12, 1996, the Air Force awarded a contract to begin working on a prototype ABL that would detect, track, and destroy theater ballistic missiles during their boost phase. |
| The concept is simple. ABL will be equipped with four lasers. One will track a boosting missile. A second laser will zero in on the missile to determine the spot at which the missile is most vulnerable – its fuel tank. A third laser will measure the amount of atmospheric disturbance between the ABL aircraft and the missile and set up corrective measures. The fourth laser is the megawatt-class COIL, which will send out an ultra-hot beam, heating the metal around the fuel tank until it splits open. |
| Because the fuel tank is under pressure, it will then vent its contents and the missile will either explode or veer wildly off course. |
| This theory is not altogether different from the method devised by Archimedes, except ABL will use self-created heat rather than reflected sunlight. |
| However, since no one had ever built an airborne DE weapon before, the ABL System Program Office at Kirtland was tasked with writing the book on how a viable anti-missile apparatus would be constructed. (^top of section) |
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| The process began with a platform – an off-the-assembly-line Boeing 747-400 freighter. After two years of modification work at, the first ABL aircraft, dubbed Y (prototype) A (attack) L (laser), model 1A, made its first flight on July 18, 2002. |
| Over the next five months, YAL-1A, newly painted in Air Force gray, complete with tail number 00-0001 signifying it is the first new military aircraft of the millennium, made more than a dozen flights demonstrating its airworthiness and proving its emergence as a budding weapon system. With only its computers and infrared heat sensors aboard, it successfully tracked a ballistic missile launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., from cloud-break to burnout, confirming it could carry out the first part of its mission. |
| Earlier, in January 2002, engineers fired the first COIL laser module that actually will be installed on YAL-1A. It amazed testers by producing a beam that measured at 118 percent of the anticipated power. Five clones of that laser module have been built in a special facility at Edwards AFB, Calif. Graduated testing of all six modules began early in 2004, and was completed in 2006. Throughout 2007 and 2008, YAL-1A flight tested its tracking and atmospheric correction lasers and sophisticated optical system utilizing a Big Crow KC-135 from the Kirtland based program office as a surrogate target. Following completion of this testing the high-energy laser modules were installed inside YAL-1A in preparation for a lethal demonstration of this revolutionary weapon system. |
| The ABL’s COIL laser was successfully fired in flight August 18, 2009, validating the High Energy Laser’s (HEL) ability to fire in an airborne environment. The laser fired into an onboard calorimeter. On January 10, 2010, the HEL was fired into space for the first time.
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| On February 11, 2010, the re-designated Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile. The experiment, conducted at Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off the central California coast, serves as a proof-of-concept demonstration for directed energy technology. The ALTB is a pathfinder for the nation’s directed energy program and its potential application for missile defense technology. |
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| Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Albuquerque |
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| The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is a combat support agency of DOD. |
| DTRA’s mission is to safeguard America and its allies from weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosives) by providing capabilities to reduce, eliminate and counter the threat and mitigate its effects. |
| DTRA headquarters is at Fort Belvoir, Va. DTRA employs about 2,000 military and civilian staff at more than 14 locations around the world. More than 300 employees are assigned to Albuquerque. |
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| Albuquerque directorates include the Counter WMD Technologies Test Support Division, Combat Support and Albuquerque Business operations. |
| The Test Support Division provides test planning, management, safe execution and analysis in support of federal agencies and friendly nation’s programs to actively counter WMD. |
| Combat Support functions include nuclear weapons surety and the Defense Nuclear Weapons School. The school offers extensive resident and worldwide mobile courses on nuclear weapon core competencies, radiological accident response and proliferation training to DOD, and other federal and state agencies. |
| To learn more about DTRA, visit DTRALink, the agency’s official Web site, at www.dtra.mil. |
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