Air Transport

The first phase of Israel's so-called "Code Positive" smart card system designed to identify that aircraft heading for Israel are not hostile will become operational in April.

Initially, all general aviation pilots approaching Israeli airspace will have to identify themselves using the system and the procedure will be gradually expanded to include all commercial aircraft flying to the country.

The highly classified "Code Positive" system, developed by Elbit Systems, uses special smart cards that will be given to pilots that regularly fly to Israel to verify their identity. Israeli air traffic control will use a special control centre connected to the system to clear each aircraft to continue.

Gideon Siterman, director general of the Israeli ministry of transport, says that "Code Positive" will eliminate the need to scramble fighters to verify "suspicious "aircraft or divert them to airports in neighbouring countries.