Anti-Missile Devices for Airliners

[52vincent]

W A S H I N G T O N, May 15— After a monthlong study, the government has decided to ask two companies to try to build devices that will protect commercial planes from shoulder-fired missiles, lawmakers said today.

The Department of Homeland Security also will ask other high-tech firms for proposals on the best way to protect aircraft from the threat, which has concerned U.S. officials since an unsuccessful attack on an Israeli passenger jet in Africa last fall.

"This is a real breakthrough," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who is co-sponsoring a bill to equip 6,800 U.S. airliners with anti-missile devices at a cost of $10 billion.

The study was ordered in April as part of the spending plan for the war in Iraq, and the Department of Homeland Security is expected to release details on it as soon as Friday.

Schumer, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., have been briefed on the study and held a news conference to discuss the findings.

Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse did not release any details but said "the report provides a plan to determine if a viable technology exists to be deployed on commercial aircraft."

Last November, terrorists fired two SA-7 missiles that just missed an Israeli civilian aircraft after it took off from Mombasa, Kenya. Officials believe al Qaeda launched the attack, which coincided with a bomb blast at a nearby hotel.

The State Department on Wednesday told Americans to defer nonessential travel to Kenya because of indications of terrorist threats against U.S. and Western interests, including commercial planes.

 

[Whirlwind]

Call me stupid, but didn't the military invent flare and chaff despensers about 50 years ago for this sort of thing?

Don't they have automatic despensers these days? Just install those on airliners.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

If they cant afford to give you 2 freakin' bags of pretzels, they surely cant afford anti-missle technology

 

[Cardinal]

This isn't all that difficult. How about an off-the-shelf AN/ALQ-147?

The AN/ALQ-144 (-147 fixed wing) system is an omni-directional active infrared Countermeasures Set which protects the EH-1H, EH-1X, EH-60A, MH-60K, UH-60A, AH-1F, AH-64A, OV-1D, and RV-1D aircraft from air-to-air and ground-to-air heat seeking (infrared) missiles. The airborne installed system included in this family of equipment are designed to provide jamming of threat IR missile systems. They are active, continuous operating, omni-directional, electrically fuel-fired IR jamming systems designed to confuse or decoy threat IR missile systems.

Bolt it on like a toaster and install a switch next to the landing lights. Long story short, problem solved. It weighs all of 30 pounds. The Army's program to fit 1047 helicopters with this system cost them $1.7 Billion. But all the R&D is now complete, so the unit costs are pretty low. This press release indicates that Lockheed Martin/Sanders can build 'em for $75,000 a piece. I fail to see how this entire program could cost the government more than $1.5 billion, but that's Washington for you. The technology is already there, so we'll just have to reinvent the wheel to justify our existence. This is the only bill ever to come out of the office of Boxer or Schumer that I have ever agreed with. Perhaps if these get installed they'll let a poor photographer hang out next to the airport fence again.

 

[fredflyer]

One of the problems is that most of the systems were designed for either fighters or helicopers, and that doesn't always translate over well into a big, slow flying airplane because they move differently and operate in different environments. On the C-5, we got a bolt on launch detection system, with an automatic flare dispenser. Without getting into the exact workings of the system (becasue I'm too stupid to), it detects a missile launch from the heat signature created by the motor on the missile. I would imagine the system works well over a battlefield or open terrain, but over a city, there are all sorts of sun-reflections and other heat producing aspects which can give a false indication of a launch ( on our system, at least ). I've had them several times. If you get a launch indication and the system is armed, the flares pop out. Now, if this happens over some desert rat-hole airport in the Middle East, no big deal, you fill out some paperwork and that's it, but you pop those things at 500' on final over Chicago or New York, you've got bigger problems.
They have improved the system over the years and the false warnings have decreased, but they need to come a bit further before I'd be comofortable flying over a big city with those things armed.

Diclaimer:
Any rocket-scientist type who reads this and wants to correct me, keep this in mind: I am only speaking from personal experience and limited knowledge of the workings of our specific system.