AARON KARP / WASHINGTON DC
US lawmakers have expressed support for protecting commercial aircraft from surface-to-air missiles (SAM). House aviation subcommittee chairman John Mica describes information on the threat given to Congress as "sobering". He says: "We have to proceed quickly with research and development and move towards installations on commercial aircraft."
The cost of equipping all US commercial jets with anti-missile systems has been put at $7-10 billion, with some lawmakers calling on the US government to provide funding. Northrop Grumman has proposed equipping 300 aircraft on international routes with a version of its military AAQ-24(V) directed infrared countermeasures (IRCM) system at $2 million per aircraft.
Director of IRCM programmes Jack Pledger says the AAQ-24(V), developed for military transport aircraft would be simplified for civil use. "For commercial aircraft, you'd put a pod on the aft belly," he says. The conformal pod would house the missile warning sensors, processor and the turret for the laser jammer, which confuses the missile seeker. "If you have a system that can protect military transports, then you should be able to protect commercial flights, which climb quickly out of the threat environment."
Northrop Grumman has been asked by the US government to examine modifying its military large aircraft IRCM. The company estimates that protecting 300 Boeing 747s, 767 and 777s would cost $655 million - $55 million for certification and $600 million for production and installation - and take 28 months. If significantly more than 300 are equipped, cost could drop to around $1 million per aircraft, while 3,000 aircraft would cost $3 billion and require six years to complete, Northrop Grumman estimates.
As commercial airliners only face the SAM risk for short periods after take-off and before landing, the civil system would be "autonomous" and not require aircraft rewiring. The system would take "less than a week" per aircraft to install, says Pledger.
Source: Flight International
