Sunday, March 23, 2008

Commercial Planes to be Outfitted With Anti-Missile System

Ezra HaLevi

Israel will finally equip its commercial aircraft with anti-missile systems as a result of concrete threats that terrorists will try to shoot them down.

The new systems, talked about for years but held up for various reasons, will respond to a missile-launch by shooting flares meant to confuse heat-seeking missiles’ guidance systems.

The system is already in place on Air Force aircraft and will be added to flights through Asia and Africa first.

The program was initially launched after terrorists tried to shoot down an El Al plane in Mombassa, Kenya in 2002. It stalled due to the government’s insistence that the airlines shoulder the cost of developing the system for commercial aircraft, but has now been embraced by the government.

According to Maariv, the government decision is tied to the increased global terror threat posed by Hizbullah and other Iranian and Syrian-backed groups in the wake of the killing of arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus. The paper reported that the flare system would be used for a few years before being replaced by a more advanced optical system.

The United States is considering installing the anti-missile systems on its commercial airliners as well..

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