Lack of US Federal Aviation Administration approval prevents use on long-haul fleet
El Al will begin testing an Elta Flight Guard man-portable air defence system countermeasures package on one of its aircraft in June, but is facing opposition to its deployment on flights to the USA.
The first El Al aircraft, which will not necessarily be a Boeing 757 as shown in the illustration, will be equipped with the prototype system in June and tested in revenue service for several months, ahead of the modification of additional aircraft.
Initially, El Al does not plan to install the system on its long-haul fleet of Boeing 747s and 777s because the US Federal Aviation Administration is opposed to airliners being equipped with flare-based systems and will not allow Flight Guard-equipped aircraft into the USA. Israel has been seeking provisional certification from the USA for Flight Guard to enable operations there.
The FAA confirms the Israeli system needs approval for use in US airspace and says it has not cleared the use of any flare-based systems. The US Department of Transportation says it has not been asked for, or granted, any exemption.
According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, no existing UK or International Civil Aviation Organisation regulation would prevent an Israeli-registered aircraft operating with a countermeasures system, certificated by the state of registration, flying to another country's airspace and airports.
The European Joint Aviation Authorities has been unable to comment on the El Al plans as it says it has not been informed by Israel that operations with the system to Europe are planned.
The Flight Guard system was developed by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) subsidiary Elta, with $3 million in government funding. It utilises a set of sensitive, directional sensors that activate special safe flares.
The latter, which are produced by Israel Military Industries (IMI), were developed by its Rocket Systems arm and will be invisible to the human eye. IAI Bedek will modify El Al's fleet when in-service testing of the Flight Guard is complete.
Source: Flight International
