ARIE EGOZI / TEL AVIV & GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Israel is developing anti-missile systems for airliners. The USA is moving in the same direction, but the rest of the world is unconvinced the threat is real enough
Convinced the threat is real, the US Congress is pushing for a programme to equip the country's 6,800 passenger jets with systems to defeat surface-to-air missiles (SAM). The rest of the world seems unconvinced the threat warrants such measures - except Israel, which has good reason to fear terrorists armed with shoulder-launched SAMs.
It was the failed attack on a Boeing 757 belonging to Israel's Arkia Airlines in November last year that alerted the world to the man-portable missile threat. Two Russian-built SA-7 Strela-2 heat-seeking SAMs narrowly missed the aircraft as it took off from Kenya's Mombasa airport. The threat is not new, but after the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, it has taken on new significance.
Legislate to protect
Closed-door briefings on the missile threat earlier this year were enough to convince some in Congress to propose legislation requiring the US passenger fleet to be equipped with self-protection systems, with the estimated $7-10 billion cost to be covered by the US government. Language was also attached to supplemental defence funding for the war in Iraq requiring the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to propose a plan to protect airliners from missile attack.
The department says the plan outlines a process to determine if viable technology exists. Contrary to statements by those members of Congress proposing legislation to equip US airliners with self-protection systems, the DHS says it has not launched a programme to certificate anti-missile systems. The department may award contracts to develop prototypes, but has "made no decision how or when, and will not for several months".
Israel is moving much faster. Two Israeli companies are racing to certificate infrared countermeasures systems for commercial passenger aircraft. The two companies are working on different concepts, but both believe they can certificate their systems by the end of the year.
Threat "imminent"
The Israeli civil aviation authority has warned that the threat to commercial aircraft from man-portable missiles is "clear and imminent". Amos Amir, director general of the CAA, says the wide availability of shoulder-launched SAMs makes the threat real.
"The only way to tackle the problem is by equipping aircraft with countermeasures and enhancing the security measures around airports, including aerial patrols," Amir says.
The Israeli ministry of transport is helping finance development of the self-protection systems. According to Amir, $50 million is needed to complete certification and equip aircraft operated by Israeli airlines. The CAA has begun the certification process after co-ordinating with the US Federal Aviation Administration. This will not automatically ensure, but will facilitate, FAA certification.
Elta's Flight Guard system is based on a pulse-Doppler radar that detects the incoming missile and automatically triggers the dispensing of flares to decoy the seeker. The "safe" flares are made by Israel Military Industries (IMI). Use of flares on commercial aircraft has been questioned because of the risk of causing ground fires, but IMI president Dr Udi Ganani says the advanced flares used in the system will be environmentally safe.
Earlier this month, IMI signed a formal co-operation agreement with Elta, a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI). The flares will be designed by IMI's Givon division, which supplies the advanced flares used by the Israeli air force. IAI has been nominated by the Israeli ministry of defence to lead development of a civil version of the countermeasures system, which in its military version is installed on a large number of aircraft.
Shimon Eckhaus, IAI's vice-president marketing, says certification is the main target. "We hope to get CAA and FAA certification by the end of the year." Elta hopes to sign a co-operation agreement with a US company that will allow it to certificate the Flight Guard system in the USA.
Rafael, meanwhile, is developing its Britening directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) system. The system consists of ultraviolet sensors that detect the missile launch and a gimbaled turret housing infrared sensors that track the missile trajectory. The turret also houses the active infrared jammer, which transmits a signal that confuses the missile's infrared seeker. Programme manager Dr Patrick Bar-Avi says tests so far prove the concept works.
Prototype tested
The first series of ground tests were conducted in March at the Uvda air force base in southern Israel. The prototype was activated on an Arkia Boeing 757 with engines at full thrust to recreate the infrared signature of an aircraft taking off.
Rafael sources say the Britening system can be certificated before the end of the year. Arkia, Israel's largest private airline, is helping Rafael to test the system and may become the first airline to fly a commercial passenger aircraft equipped with a countermeasures system. Bar-Avi says the company, meanwhile, has already received six requests for proposals to equip head-of-state aircraft.
In December, the Israeli ministry of defence recommended that all Israeli passenger aircraft flying on international routes should be equipped with systems to counter the threat of shoulder-launched missiles. Funding to equip Israeli airlines is still not available, but the prime minister's office and the ministry of defence both say that when a system is certificated, the money will be available for its installation.
In the USA, meanwhile, Northrop Grumman is proposing a version of its AAQ-24(V) large-aircraft infrared countermeasures (LAIRCM) system, already operational on US Air Force transports. The laser-based DIRCM would be repackaged to fit the missile-warning sensors and jamming turret into a pod that would attach to the aft belly of a commercial aircraft. The system would be autonomous, operating during take-off and landing without flightcrew action.
Conformal pod
A single design of a conformal pod would fit commercial aircraft ranging from the Boeing 747 down to a regional jet, says Bob DelBoca, Northrop Grumman vice-president infrared countermeasures systems. Earlier this year, DelBoca outlined to Congress a proposal to equip the 300 US airliners used on international routes. Many of these aircraft are also part of the US Department of Defense's Civil Reserve Air Fleet, which could be called on to operate alongside the US Air Force's LAIRCM-equipped transports.
Northrop Grumman estimates the 300 aircraft could be equipped within 28 months at a cost of $655 million, including $55 million for FAA certification. DelBoca believes that live-fire testing conducted during LAIRCM development would read across to commercial aircraft, so that certification work would focus on installation issues. The cost per installation would be about $2 million for 300 aircraft, the company estimates, dropping to around $1 million if upwards of 3,000 airliners are equipped. "We are looking to bring the price down," he says.
Since briefing Congress, Northrop Grumman has been looking at the installation and interface requirements of various commercial aircraft types. "We know how to install the system on an aircraft," DelBoca says. Given a DHS contract, the company could have a prototype system installed, ready to begin certification testing, in six months, he says.
BAE Systems, which also supplies DIRCM systems to the US military, is working on design of a commercial version. The company's US arm produces the ALQ-204(V) Matador passive infrared countermeasures system already certificated and installed on several business and commercial aircraft used as head-of-state transports (see panel), and is producing a lamp-based DIRCM for military helicopters while developing a laser-based system for fast jets.
Many in the air transport industry doubt the practicality of fitting airliners with DIRCM systems. They question the $10 billion estimate of the cost to equip the US jet fleet, putting the price nearer $90 billion when the cost of maintenance is included. Sceptics point out that DIRCMs are weapon systems, raising issues of despatch reliability and about how civilian mechanics will be certified to maintain them, particularly on US aircraft operating overseas.
Industry doubt
The DHS has invited proposals from industry on other technologies to meet the threat, but aircraft manufacturers and operators want the department to perform a detailed study of the complete surface-to-air threat - not just from SAMs - and identify the most appropriate countermeasures. But whatever the answer, the position of both Boeing and the Air Transport Association is that costs must be covered by the US government.
Outside of Israel and the USA, there are no moves to protect airliners from shoulder-launched missile attacks, other than security measures limited to intelligence-led vigilance at and around airports. European airlines say they are getting no guidance from their governments, and Europe has no co-ordinated strategy because the threat is seen as a national security issue. If there is a threat, that is.
Source: Flight International