Airborne Laser Test Bed

(From left to right) Lt. Col. Jeff Warmka, Airborne Laser Test Bed Combined Test Force director, Doug Canning, ALTB CTF test conductor, Barry St. Germain, Boeing pilot, and Roc White, ALTB CTF test conductor, step to the ALTB aircraft Feb. 14 before starting engines for its final flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rob Densmore)

With the Moon serving as a backdrop for the YAL-1A Airborne Laser Test Bed aircraft Feb. 14, the aircraft's nose displays the accomplishments it had while it was tested at Edwards AFB, Calif. During its tenure here, the ALTB successfully engaged various instrumented rockets and successfully engaged and destroyed a boosting solid-fueled Terrier Black Brant rocket and a boosting liquid-fueled Foreign Military Acquisition missile in February 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rob Densmore)

The YAL-1A Airborne Laser Test Bed aircraft departs off Runway 22L at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in order to make its final low approach over the Birk Flight Test Facility Feb. 14 before heading to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. The ALTB, which was at Edwards for more than nine years, was a modified Boeing 747-400 Freighter that housed two solid-state lasers and a megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser that could use directed energy as a viable technology against ballistic missiles. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rob Densmore)

The YAL-1A Airborne Laser Test Bed aircraft flys over Rogers Dry Lakebed for its final low approach over Edwards Air Force Base before taking a ferry flight to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., on Feb. 14. Once the aircraft lands at Davis-Monthan AFB, the ALTB will be processed into storage at the Air Force’s Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. (U.S. Air Force photo by Bobbi Zapka)