# Boeing YAL-1
The **Boeing YAL-1** was a modified Boeing 747-400 Freighter carrying a megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL), built for the United States Missile Defense Agency to destroy tactical ballistic missiles in their boost phase, the short period shortly after launch.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/) The U.S. Department of Defense designated the aircraft YAL-1A in 2004.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/) On February 3, 2010, it became the first airborne directed-energy weapon to destroy a ballistic missile in flight, and the first system of any kind to destroy one during boost phase; funding was cut the same year and the program was canceled in December 2011.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platform | Modified Boeing 747-400F with a rotating nose turret housing a 5-foot diameter telescope; first flight July 18, 2002[2](https://afhistory.org/18-jul-2002/) |
| Weapon | Megawatt-class COIL in six interconnected modules, each about 6,500 pounds with 3,600 separate parts[3](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/128253/airborne-laser-returns-for-more-testing/) |
| Beam energy | A 5-second burst produced enough energy to power a typical household for more than one hour[3](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/128253/airborne-laser-returns-for-more-testing/) |
| First kill | February 3, 2010: destruction of a boosting Terrier Black Brant rocket launched from San Nicolas Island, California[4](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111633/airborne-laser-test-bed-bids-adieu-to-edwards-afb/) |
| Contractors | Boeing (airframe, battle management, integration); Northrop Grumman/TRW (laser); Lockheed Martin (beam control/fire control and turret)[5](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2005-12-12-Airborne-Laser-Completes-Laser-Ground-Tests) |
| Cost record | Between conception in 1996 and final flight, the program consumed twice its expected developmental budget for half the planned airframes[6](https://www.key.aero/article/whatever-happened-usafs-yal-1a-airborne-laser-testbed) |
| Disposition | Final flight February 14, 2011 to Davis-Monthan AFB; scrapped in September 2014 after usable parts were removed[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/) |
## Background and origins
The YAL-1 had a direct predecessor. From 1975 to 1984 the United States operated an NKC-135 Airborne Laser Lab, a modified NKC-135A carrying a 10.6-micrometer carbon dioxide laser; its tests included successful interceptions of small air-to-air missiles and drone aircraft, but the system remained strictly experimental.[7](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2225247/july-16-2007-airborne-laser-intercepts-big-crow-aircraft/) The SCUD threat faced during the [Gulf War](https://www.edgepedia.org/gulf-war) reignited interest in an airborne laser, resulting in the Boeing YAL-1.[7](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2225247/july-16-2007-airborne-laser-intercepts-big-crow-aircraft/)
In January 2000 the first Airborne Laser aircraft arrived at Boeing Wichita for 18 months of major modification work. The most visible change was a turret in the aircraft nose, from which a beam of laser light would emanate to destroy Scud-like missiles hundreds of miles away, along with structural changes to accept a multi-megawatt-class chemical laser.[8](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2000-01-22-First-Airborne-Laser-Aircraft-Arrives-at-Boeing-Wichita-for-Start-of-Major-Modification-Work) The highly modified 747-400F made its first flight on July 18, 2002, described by the Air Force Historical Foundation as the world's first directed-energy combat aircraft.[2](https://afhistory.org/18-jul-2002/) The aircraft was tested at Edwards AFB from December 2002 and spent more than eight years with the Birk Flight Test Facility there.[4](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111633/airborne-laser-test-bed-bids-adieu-to-edwards-afb/)
## Design and contractors
Work was divided among three principal partners. Boeing supplied the 747-400 Freighter, was responsible for the surveillance, battle management, and command and control systems, and served as weapon system integrator.[5](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2005-12-12-Airborne-Laser-Completes-Laser-Ground-Tests) • [8](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2000-01-22-First-Airborne-Laser-Aircraft-Arrives-at-Boeing-Wichita-for-Start-of-Major-Modification-Work) [Northrop Grumman](https://www.edgepedia.org/northrop-grumman) provided the laser segment, including the megawatt-class COIL and the Beacon Illuminator; TRW of Redondo Beach, California, built the laser and related ground-support subsystems.[5](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2005-12-12-Airborne-Laser-Completes-Laser-Ground-Tests) • [8](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2000-01-22-First-Airborne-Laser-Aircraft-Arrives-at-Boeing-Wichita-for-Start-of-Major-Modification-Work) [Lockheed Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/lockheed-martin) provided the beam control/fire control segment and the flight turret assembly.[5](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2005-12-12-Airborne-Laser-Completes-Laser-Ground-Tests)
The COIL itself was composed of six interconnected modules, each as large as a sport-utility vehicle turned on end, each weighing about 6,500 pounds and containing 3,600 separate parts.[3](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/128253/airborne-laser-returns-for-more-testing/) Northrop Grumman's ground tests included more than 70 separate lasing events, operation at simulated altitude, and steady-state operation under full optical control.[5](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2005-12-12-Airborne-Laser-Completes-Laser-Ground-Tests) Further modifications at Boeing Wichita in 2006 installed the beam control and fire control solid-state illuminators, reinforced floors, and the chemical-fuel tanks needed to integrate the COIL.[3](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/128253/airborne-laser-returns-for-more-testing/)
## How an engagement worked
The Airborne Laser was designed to fly above the clouds, locate and track boosting missiles, and point and fire the high-energy laser near launch areas, as the boost-phase segment of the Ballistic Missile Defense System.[3](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/128253/airborne-laser-returns-for-more-testing/) In the designed engagement, the sensor system would autonomously detect and track a boosting missile, determine its position, and destroy it with the high-energy laser.[5](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2005-12-12-Airborne-Laser-Completes-Laser-Ground-Tests)
The February 3, 2010 intercept followed this sequence in practice. The aircraft's infrared sensors detected a solid-fuel ballistic missile within seconds after launch over the Point Mugu Sea Range. The battle management system issued engagement and target location instructions to the beam control/fire control system, whose low-energy solid-state lasers tracked the target and measured atmospheric conditions to compensate for disturbances. The megawatt-class COIL then fired its beam, heating the target missile's surface until it failed.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/)
Atmospheric compensation had been validated against an aircraft nearly three years earlier. On March 15, 2007, while airborne, the YAL-1 discharged its tracking laser at the NKC-135E "Big Crow" test plane, which had a "signboard" target mounted on its body; the trial confirmed that the system could follow a target in the air and measure and correct for distortion caused by the atmosphere.[7](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2225247/july-16-2007-airborne-laser-intercepts-big-crow-aircraft/)
## Testing record
Ground lasing began well before flight tests. The COIL was fired more than 70 times in the system integration lab beginning in November 2004, starting with a burst of a fraction of a second; a firing on December 6, 2005 exceeded the full-duration goal at a level believed capable of destroying a ballistic missile in boost phase.[3](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/128253/airborne-laser-returns-for-more-testing/)
The 2010 flight tests produced the program's headline results. On February 3, 2010, the ALTB engaged and destroyed a boosting solid-fueled Terrier Black Brant rocket launched from [San Nicolas Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-nicolas-island), California, the first time in history an airborne directed energy weapon destroyed a ballistic missile in flight and the first time any system destroyed one during boost phase.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/) • [4](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111633/airborne-laser-test-bed-bids-adieu-to-edwards-afb/) Eight days later, the aircraft destroyed a boosting liquid-fueled Foreign Military Acquisition missile and engaged a second Terrier Black Brant without negating it.[4](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111633/airborne-laser-test-bed-bids-adieu-to-edwards-afb/) Across its test career the program demonstrated acquiring, tracking, and placing a stabilized laser spot on a boosting missile over hundreds of kilometers.[4](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111633/airborne-laser-test-bed-bids-adieu-to-edwards-afb/)
## Cancellation and aftermath
US Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz described the February 3, 2010 shoot-down as "a magnificent technical achievement [that] does not reflect something that is operationally viable."[6](https://www.key.aero/article/whatever-happened-usafs-yal-1a-airborne-laser-testbed) Between its conception in 1996 and its final flight, the program consumed twice the expected developmental budget for half the number of airframes originally planned, and never approached operational status.[6](https://www.key.aero/article/whatever-happened-usafs-yal-1a-airborne-laser-testbed) Funding was cut in 2010 and the program was canceled in December 2011.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/)
The aircraft made its final flight on February 14, 2011, to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in [Tucson, Arizona](https://www.edgepedia.org/tucson-arizona), for storage at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, the "Boneyard."[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/) • [4](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111633/airborne-laser-test-bed-bids-adieu-to-edwards-afb/) It was ultimately scrapped in September 2014 after all usable parts were removed.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/)
## Comparison with the Airborne Laser Lab
The two airborne laser programs bracket three decades of directed-energy development. [The 1975](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1975)–1984 NKC-135 Airborne Laser Lab carried a 10.6-micrometer carbon dioxide laser and intercepted small air-to-air missiles and drones, but produced an experimental system only.[7](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2225247/july-16-2007-airborne-laser-intercepts-big-crow-aircraft/) The YAL-1 advanced to a megawatt-class chemical laser on a 747-400F airframe and, in 2010, destroyed boosting ballistic-missile-class targets in flight.[1](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/) Both programs, however, ended without an operational deployment, and the YAL-1 never approached operational status.[6](https://www.key.aero/article/whatever-happened-usafs-yal-1a-airborne-laser-testbed)
## References
1. [February 3, 2010: Testing of YAL-1 Airborne Laser Test Bed, Air Force Test Center](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2462050/february-3-2010-testing-of-yal-1-airborne-laser-test-bed/)
2. [18 Jul 2002, Air Force Historical Foundation](https://afhistory.org/18-jul-2002/)
3. [Airborne Laser returns for more testing, US Air Force](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/128253/airborne-laser-returns-for-more-testing/)
4. [Airborne Laser Test Bed bids adieu to Edwards AFB, US Air Force](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111633/airborne-laser-test-bed-bids-adieu-to-edwards-afb/)
5. [Airborne Laser Completes Laser Ground Tests, Boeing](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2005-12-12-Airborne-Laser-Completes-Laser-Ground-Tests)
6. [Whatever happened to the USAF's YAL-1A Airborne Laser, Key.Aero](https://www.key.aero/article/whatever-happened-usafs-yal-1a-airborne-laser-testbed)
7. [July 16, 2007: Airborne Laser Intercepts Big Crow Aircraft, Air Force Test Center](https://www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-Display-Test-History/Article/2225247/july-16-2007-airborne-laser-intercepts-big-crow-aircraft/)
8. [First Airborne Laser Aircraft Arrives at Boeing Wichita, Boeing](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2000-01-22-First-Airborne-Laser-Aircraft-Arrives-at-Boeing-Wichita-for-Start-of-Major-Modification-Work)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Transport and spaceflight › Aviation › Aircraft › Experimental and advanced aircraft › X-planes, prototypes, and demonstrators › Technology demonstrators and advanced concept aircraft*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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