Editing Boeing YAL-1 (section)

=== Cancellation ===
[[File:YAL-1 AMARG.JPG|thumb|In storage with engines removed. Ultimately broken up on 25 September 2014.]]
Secretary of Defense [[Robert Gates|Gates]] summarized fundamental concerns with the practicality of the program concept:
<blockquote>
I don't know anybody at the Department of Defense, Mr. Tiahrt, who thinks that this program should, or would, ever be operationally deployed. The reality is that you would need a laser something like 20 to 30 times more powerful than the chemical laser in the plane right now to be able to get any distance from the launch site to fire&nbsp;... So, right now the ABL would have to orbit inside the borders of Iran in order to be able to try and use its laser to shoot down that missile in the boost phase. And if you were to operationalize this you would be looking at 10 to 20 747s, at a billion and a half dollars apiece, and $100 million a year to operate. And there's nobody in uniform that I know who believes that this is a workable concept.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://csis.org/blog/missile-defense-umbrella |title=Missile Defense Umbrella? |publisher=[[Center for Strategic and International Studies]] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111093235/http://csis.org/blog/missile-defense-umbrella |archive-date=January 11, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref>
</blockquote>

The Air Force did not request further funds for the Airborne Laser for 2010; Air Force Chief of Staff Schwartz has said that the system "does not reflect something that is operationally viable".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/02/airforce_budget_022610w/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722014125/http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/02/airforce_budget_022610w/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-22 |title=Schwartz: Get those AF boots off the ground |publisher=airforcetimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Hodge | first = Nathan | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704570104576124173372065568 | title = Pentagon Loses War To Zap Airborne Laser From Budget | newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] | date= 11 February 2011 | url-access = subscription}}</ref>

In December 2011, it was reported that the project was to be ended after 16 years of development and a cost of over US$5 billion.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=defense&id=news%2Fasd%2F2011%2F12%2F21%2F02.xml&headline=Lights+Out+For+The+Airborne+Laser|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120728205518/http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/asd/2011/12/21/02.xml&headline=Lights+Out+For+The+Airborne+Laser | url-status = dead | archive-date = 28 July 2012 | title = Lights Out For The Airborne Laser | first = Amy | last = Butler| work = Aerospace Daily & Defense Report | publisher = [[Aviation Week & Space Technology]] | via = aviationweek.com | date = 21 December 2011 | url-access = registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://aviationweek.com/awin/lights-out-airborne-laser-0 | title = Lights Out For The Airborne Laser | first = Amy | last = Butler | work = Aerospace Daily & Defense Report | publisher = [[Aviation Week & Space Technology]] | via = aviationweek.com | date = 20 December 2011 | url-access = subscription | access-date = June 17, 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> While in its current form, a relatively low power laser mounted on an unprotected airliner may not be a practical or defensible weapon, the YAL-1 testbed is considered to have proven that air mounted energy weapons with increased range and power could be another viable way of destroying otherwise very difficult to intercept sub-orbital ballistic missiles and rockets. On 12 February 2012, the YAL-1 flew its final flight and landed at [[Davis-Monthan AFB]], Arizona, where it was placed in storage at the "boneyard" operated by the [[AMARG|309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group]] until it was ultimately scrapped in September 2014 after all usable parts were removed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.strategies-u.com/articles/2014/05/the-death-of-a-giant-laser.html | title = The Death of A Giant Laser | website = www.strategies-u.com | publisher = Strategies Unlimited | date = May 6, 2014 | first = Allen | last = Nogee | access-date = June 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/@32.1547999,-110.8419426,93m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en|title=Google Maps}}</ref>

As of 2013, studies were underway to apply the lessons of the YAL-1 by mounting laser anti-missile defenses on [[unmanned combat aerial vehicle]]s that could fly above the altitude limits of the converted jetliner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aviationweek.com/Article/PrintArticle.aspx?id=/article-xml/asd_08_16_2013_p01-01-607382.xml&p=1&printView=true|title=MDA Eyes UAVs For Discrimination, Boost-Phase Kill|work=aviationweek.com}}</ref>

By 2015, the [[Missile Defense Agency]] had started efforts to deploy a laser on a high-altitude UAV.  Rather than a manned jetliner containing chemical fuels flying at {{convert|40000|ft|km}}, firing a megawatt laser from a range of "tens of kilometers" at a boost-phase missile, the new concept envisioned an unmanned aircraft carrying an electric laser flying at {{convert|65000|ft|km}}, firing the same power level at targets potentially up to "hundreds of kilometers" away for survivability against air defenses.  While the ABL's laser required {{convert|55|kg|lb|abbr=on}} to generate one kW, the MDA wanted to reduce that to {{convert|2|-|5|kg|lb|abbr=on}} per kW, totaling {{convert|5,000|lb|kg|abbr=on}} for a megawatt.  Unlike the ABL, which required its crew to rest and chemical fuel to be reloaded, an electric laser would need only power generating from fuel to fire, so a UAV with in-flight refueling could have near-inexhaustible endurance and armament.  A "low-power demonstrator" was planned to fly sometime in or around 2021.<ref>[http://breakingdefense.com/2015/08/return-of-the-abl-missile-defense-agency-works-on-laser-drone/ Return Of The ABL? Missile Defense Agency Works On Laser Drone] - Breakingdefense.com, 17 August 2015.</ref> Challenges in reaching required power levels on a platform with sufficient performance led to the MDA choosing not to pursue the concept.<ref>[https://www.twz.com/news-features/u-s-military-laser-weapon-programs-are-facing-a-reality-check U.S. Military Laser Weapon Programs Are Facing A Reality Check]. ''The War Zone''. 21 May 2024.</ref>