South African charter operator Naturelink Aviation has participated in a demonstration of Saab's anti-missile defence system for civil aircraft. Naturelink Aviation, which is based at Pretoria's Wonderboom airport and part-owned by Safair, operates a fleet of 24 light aircraft including seven Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias.
It provided a Brasilia for last week's demonstration of the Civil Aircraft Missile Protection System designed by Saab Avitronics and Chemring Countermeasures. The system is based on an ultra-violet missile-approach sensor and an electromechanical dispenser, the production version of which will be capable of firing a non-pyrotechnical infra-red decoy.
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Unlike flares, the decoy material burns invisibly and reduces to a powder, potentially avoiding ground-fire risk.
Naturelink operates contract flights into hostile locations such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
Source: Flight International
