Advanced Manufacturing of Optical Bench Isolation Systems for Airborne Laser

Vibration control is critical for directed energy weapons such as Airborne Laser. Vibration aboard the weapon platform is a limiting factor both for generating the energy beam initially (dynamic alignment control of the laser resonator optics) and forfinal beam-directing accuracy. A unique active-passive system has been developed for resonator alignment control of Airborne Laser. It allows dynamic control of the rigid-body modes of entire optical benches at low frequency (i.e. dynamic alignment)while simultaneously isolating the benches from the airframe at higher frequencies to avoid exciting their local resonances. However this optical bench isolation system has been, for the first ABL aircraft, manufactured and hand-built largely byprototype manufacturing methods, without benefit of systematic design-for-manufacture. It has proven to be a capable performer but costly and time-consuming to build and test and somewhat heavy. It is proposed to optimize the design with respect topresent and potential manufacturing methods. Objectives are to rework the first-generation design for cost, weight, and time-to-build improvements. This will be accomplished by adapting the design to more automated methods of manufacture and test, and byadapting it to use lightweight composite materials. The proposed development will make a potentially enabling new vibration-control technology suitable for production in the quantities expected for deployment of Airborne Laser. It will reduce the costboth directly and through weight reductions.