Photos: Flying 'light saber' to ward off missiles

Major ground testing has wrapped up for the Airborne Laser, the Pentagon's long-in-development antimissile weapon. Next up: Testing the lasers in flight. "Today we are taking a major step to give the American people their first light saber," Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said Friday at an official coming-out party for the heavily modified 747-400F at a Boeing facility in Wichita, Kan.

Later this year, the ABL project will begin firing the plane's two illuminator lasers in flight at a missile-shaped target painted on a test aircraft. The 747's crew will use those low-power, solid-state lasers to track the target and to assess the atmospheric conditions. The high-energy chemical laser that will serve as the actual weapon won't be installed until 2007, according to Boeing.

"While the low-power system may not be as sexy as the high-power engagement laser, it's the heart of the system. It's what turns an interesting engineering project into a lethal weapon system," Obering said.