Jams Guidance Systems Of Incoming Missiles

Northrop Grumman -- in competition with Britain's BAE Systems for a federal contract to equip commercial airliners with a missile defense system -- took the wraps off their proposed method last week in Mojave, CA.

The six-foot long, canoe-shaped device mounts on the underside of an aircraft's fuselage, and would fire a laser beam at an incoming shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile -- not to destroy it, but instead to jam such a missile's remote guidance system, according to the LA Times.

Without a target lock, the missile would fly off course, away from the airliner.

The US Department of Homeland Security sees the widespread use of shoulder-fired missiles being used against domestic aircraft to be a very real threat. More than one million portable missile launchers have been produced worldwide since the original shoulder-held launcher and tennis-can-size missiles were designed in the US in the 1950s, according to reports cited by the Times.

According to the TSA, 35 foreign-operated civilian aircraft -- mostly in war-torn parts of Africa -- have been fired on by shoulder-fired missiles. Two of those aircraft were brought down by portable shoulder-fired missiles, killing 640 passengers. An Israeli passenger jet also narrowly missed being brought down by two missiles as it was taking off from Kenya in 2002. Terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda are believed to have been behind the attack.

Two years ago, a DHL cargo A300 (above) was felled by a missile fired at it shortly after takeoff from Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. The crew, in a remarkable display of piloting skill (described here), managed to return to the airport safely despite near total loss of flight control systems.

While those cases certainly indicate a real threat, there are other real threats out there as well -- and debate has intensified whether the cost of such defense systems (reportedly as much as $1 million per aircraft) is warranted for such a specific threat.

"It's a huge expenditure of resources to deal with one type of threat," said Air Transport Association Executive VP John Meanen.

Northrop and BAE are competing to develop less expensive commercial versions of missile defense systems used on military aircraft. Northrop has their device mounted on a FedEx MD-11 for testing, while BAE has equipped an American Airlines B767 with their version of the system.

Also, Raytheon has proposed a ground-based missile defense "shield" that would create a high-powered microwave field over airports, confusing missile guidance systems. Such a system would cost approximately $25 million per airport, and would only be effective while aircraft are operating within the area around the airport -- some portable missiles can reach as high as 15,000 ft AGL.

Live-fire tests of the system ultimately chose by the US government will be conducted at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range next year.

FMI: www.northropgrumman.com, www.raytheon.com