Albuquerque Journal April 24, 2004
Anti-Missile Laser Program at Kirtland Faulted
By Miguel Navrot
The military's anti-missile Airborne Laser is behind schedule and over budget, according to a congressional report released Friday.
The Government Accounting Office report of Missile Defense Agency programs, including the Airborne Laser project at Kirtland Air Force Base, predicted cost overruns ranging from $431 million to $942 million for the $11 billion effort.
The Airborne Laser program, or ABL, began in 1996 to design and assemble a missile-killing laser on a modified Boeing 747 freighter to intercept ballistic missiles and other threats.
Problems with the high-tech project aren't new. Earlier this month, the GAO reported the program had $242 million in overruns for fiscal 2003.
Friday's report suggests ABL proponents "substantially underestimated" the program's complexity. Developers once hoped to have their testing finished by last year.
"It's unchartered waters for us, in terms of the technology," said Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner in a Friday interview from Virginia. "Obviously, there are going to be some challenges, just because it's something we had not done before."
Among the GAO's findings:
- ABL is more than a year late in demonstrating the laser modules.
- Four of six major tests in 2003 were deferred or delayed.
- Contractors were later than expected in delivering hardware.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are the program's principal contractors.
Lehner disputed the GAO's cost overrun findings, saying development money is being moved from future budget years.
"We tried to estimate the costs of the development effort as best we can, but it is higher than we expected," Lehner said.
Defense analyst John Pike said programmers "were overly optimistic" in cost and schedule projections.
"Some of these major tests were supposed to have already happened, and now they aren't even scheduled," said Pike, director of nonprofit military group Globalsecurity.org.
© Copyright 2004, Albuquerque Journal
