SVS R&D has accomplished missile-plume to hard-body hand-off in a successful proof-of-concept demonstration for the proposed Rockwell Airborne Laser system.
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SVS R&D Systems, Inc., personnel have over 100 years of combined pointing and tracking expertise and cumulatively have been directly involved in all USAF tracking and pointing tests for the past 20 years. SVS R&D technologies are being applied to the ABL program in the areas of systems engineering, image processing and target tracking, automatic control and structural dynamics, electro-optical systems design, data acquisition and analysis, large-scale system simulation and real-time software systems. Recent testing of SVS R&D's laser pointing and tracking system has significantly advanced the ABL technology state-of-the-art.
SVS R&D's target tracking, laser pointing, missile-kill assessment algorithms, and real time tracking hardware (Opti-Trak 100) are considered enabling technologies for the ABL; validation having been conducted at Malabar and White Sands Missile Range. At Malabar, SVS R&D developed and integrated a precision tracking and control system for pointing a laser at rockets in their boost phases after launching from Cape Canaveral.
According to Astro News, July 12, 1996, "A landmark technological break-through was hailed [at White Sands Missile Range] recently when scientists successfully completed the first critical round of laser light active tracking tests on a boosting theater missile...Active tracking is crucial to the development of the Airborne Laser." The missile was acquired at second stage ignition and stable track was immediately established. The missile hardbody location was determined and laser pointing commands were sent to allow target illumination. After successful illumination, technicians used the reflected laser light to point and focus on the missile body and the laser tracked out to a range of about 50 km. The June 1996 test was a significant step in validating the ABL's coarse tracking, plume to hardbody handover, and laser aimpoint maintenance algorithms.
SVS R&D Systems, Inc., is a small-business enterprise that was established in 1995. In the short while since its founding, SVS R&D Systems, Inc. has secured over 27 R&D contracts valued at over $6M.