February 11, 2010 - The aircraft successfully acquired, tracked and intercepted two short-range ballistic missiles, one liquid-fueled Scud-like missile, the other solid-fueled U.S. target missile. Three intercepts total took place, and all of them were successful. This was the first actual test of the Airborne laser.
August 10, 2009 - The aircraft successfully acquired, tracked, provided atmospheric compensation and simulated the directed energy kill sequence against an instrumented boosting missile target. This test was the first time laser performance data was collected at the target missile.
August 18, 2009 - The ABL’s COIL successfully fired in flight validating the High Energy Laser’s (HEL) ability to fire in an airborne environment. The laser fired into an onboard calorimeter - a test instrument used to capture the laser energy and measure performance characteristics of the beam. The successful accomplishment is the final step in this phase of flight tests. Although significant work remains before external lasing in flight can take place, this phase of COIL testing represents a major step towards ABL’s planned lethal demonstration against a boosting missile later this year.