In 1979, AFWL achieved a milestone in the development of airborne high-energy laser weapons. The High Energy Laser Radar Acquisition and Tracking System (HELRATS) was designed specifically to track enemy aircraft and missiles. Installed at North Oscura Peak on the White Sands Missile Range between May and November 1979, HELRATS underwent extensive testing against aircraft and missiles. These tests were critically important steps to developing the DoD's high-energy laser program. Range tests took place from May to December 1979. The most successful of the tests was one that shot an AIM-9B downrange; the beam in the test cell delivered and locked onto the aim point on the missile dome, causing damage to the dome, guidance, and seeker unit inside the AIM-9B. This test demonstrated that