Anti-missile system for airlines unveiled

WBAL TV

An antimissile system that could protect commercial airlines from handheld missile fire was unveiled at BWI Thurgood Marshall airport on Wednesday.

The system was developed and tested by Northrop Grumman. The company said it will protect planes from missiles that many terrorist organizations around the world have and have threatened to use.

The Guardian System detects a heat-seeking missile and locks a laser onto the missile’s guidance system and diverts it away in a matter of seconds, official said.

“It jams it and guides it away from the missile. It all takes place in two to three seconds and without anyone on the plane having to do anything,” said Jack Pledger, a spokesman for Northrop Grumman.

The system is already in use on military aircrafts and has already protected some of those aircraft in combat, officials said.

“A C17 crew that was flying a British C17 plane that was protected by our laser system was interviewed and had indicated that upon three occasions, they had been fired at by these heat-seeking missiles, and on three occasions, the system performed exactly as it’s designed,” Pledger said.

The Guardian can be installed on a commercial aircraft that’s been fitted for it in about 20 minutes. The cost over a 20-year period would add only about $1 per person per seat, said James Pitts of Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman said the technology has proven itself and they’re waiting for the federal government to decide whether it will be used.