Five billion dollars in federal funding and 15 years of work are all for naught, as development of a space-age missile defense system has ended, per the Pentagon’s request.
The goal was to build a laser-equipped airplane capable of destroying missiles before they ever reached American soil. But cost overruns and major delays doomed the program.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
But after years of development and testing, funding dried up, and the Air Force has confirmed that the 747 took off from a runway at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert for the last time. The jumbo jet was sent to the military aircraft "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where it will be kept in storage.
The conclusion of the program "represents the end of a historic era in airborne directed energy research, not only for Edwards Air Force Base but for the Department of Defense at large," said Lt. Col. Jeff Warmka, the director of the Airborne Laser Test Bed Combined Test Force at Edwards.
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, which oversaw the airborne laser program, had asked Congress for more funding for this year but didn't receive enough to keep the program going.