[5] It made its final flight on February 14, 2012, to Davis–Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Arizona, to be kept in storage at the "boneyard" operated by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.

[6] The Airborne Laser program was initiated by the US Air Force in 1996 with the awarding of a product definition risk reduction contract to Boeing's ABL team.

[citation needed] It was shortly thereafter delivered to Boeing Defense, Space & Security in Wichita, Kansas for initial conversion for military use.

[citation needed] Ground testing of the chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) resulted in its successful firing in 2004.

[9] The next phase in the test program involved the "surrogate high-energy laser" (SHEL), a stand-in for the COIL, and demonstrated the transition from target illumination to simulated weapons firing.

[12] In an April 6, 2009 press conference, the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recommended the cancellation of the planned second ABL aircraft and said that the program should return to a Research and Development effort.

[16] In January 2010, the high-energy laser was used in-flight to intercept, although not destroy, a test Missile Alternative Range Target Instrument (MARTI) in the boost phase of flight.

[3] On February 11, 2010, in a test at Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off the central California coast, the system successfully destroyed a liquid-fuel boosting ballistic missile.

[23][24] While in its current form, a relatively low power laser mounted on an unprotected airliner may not be a practical or defensible weapon, the YAL-1 testbed is considered to have proven that air mounted energy weapons with increased range and power could be another viable way of destroying otherwise very difficult to intercept sub-orbital ballistic missiles and rockets.

On 12 February 2012, the YAL-1 flew its final flight and landed at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, where it was placed in storage at the "boneyard" operated by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group until it was ultimately scrapped in September 2014 after all usable parts were removed.

[25][26] As of 2013, studies were underway to apply the lessons of the YAL-1 by mounting laser anti-missile defenses on unmanned combat aerial vehicles that could fly above the altitude limits of the converted jetliner.

Rather than a manned jetliner containing chemical fuels flying at 40,000 feet (12 km), firing a megawatt laser from a range of "tens of kilometers" at a boost-phase missile, the new concept envisioned an unmanned aircraft carrying an electric laser flying at 65,000 feet (20 km), firing the same power level at targets potentially up to "hundreds of kilometers" away for survivability against air defenses.

[28] Challenges in reaching required power levels on a platform with sufficient performance led to the MDA choosing not to pursue the concept.

Tougher solid-fueled ICBM destruction range would likely have been limited to 300 km, too short to be useful in many scenarios, according to a 2003 report by the American Physical Society on National Missile Defense.

The main laser, located in a turret on the aircraft nose, could be fired for 3 to 5 seconds, causing the missile to break up in flight near the launch area.

[32] In theory, an airborne laser could be used against hostile fighter aircraft, cruise missiles, or even low-Earth-orbit satellites (see anti-satellite weapon).

However, the YAL-1 infrared target acquisition system was designed to detect the hot exhaust of TBMs in boost phase.

An analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists discusses potential airborne laser use against low Earth orbit satellites.

[34] Data from [citation needed]General characteristics Performance Armament Avionics Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era