British Airways Looking at Anti-Missile Systems

[Kellanved]

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways Plc, Europe's biggest airline, said on Friday it was talking to aircraft manufacturers about high-tech measures to guard against surface-to-air missile attacks on its planes.

"Our security team has been talking to the manufacturers -- Boeing and Airbus -- about anti-missile technology," said a British Airways spokeswoman, adding that the talks were exploratory and no decisions had yet been made.
She said the talks began several months ago.

Israeli airliners are believed to carry anti-missile systems, but most of the more than 12,000 commercial planes flying worldwide have nothing to protect them from being downed by a shoulder-mounted missile.

Analysts say the main obstacle to putting anti-missile systems on commercial aircraft is the cost and that there are limits to how well airliners that fly slow and unarmed can be protected.

...
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=3393952

[rooboy]

1. John Howard suggested QANTAS do the same...

and QANTAS basically told him to shove it.

[Dover]

2. Oh, for crying out loud! WHO is getting this contract? Another favor?

....

[Kolesar]

3. We are going to be crossing the Atlantic in ships in 50 years anyway

It is only a matter of time until kerosene becomes scarce and British Airways tickets will cost as much as a flight on the Concorde.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. So will they change the safety instructions

that the flight attendents have to tell us about when we get on the plane?

This flight will travel over water, there is a lifejacket under your seat.

In the case of lose of cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will drop down ...

In the case of a missile attack, you personal anti-aircraft weapon controller will pop out of the seat in front of you.

[PATRICK]

5. countermeasures and decoys

witht the supporting electronic systems. defensive, but the term anti-missile conjures up missile duels and Star Wars battles. How well slow moving behemoths with passengers could maneover in conjunction with
emergency defensives is an interesting question.

With some tens of thousands of ground to air missles and launchers "out there" it seems a grim necessity. The governments who made those weapons should foot the bill as a lesson in consequences.

[Gloria]

6. Qantas is balking ....as per the article

I posted in the World Media Watch ...URL below....

[NekoChris]

7. Ok...

...who uses missles anymore? Seriously? I mean you might have to worry about a rocket launcher. Or a Rocket Propelled Grenade. But who fires MISSLES? Guided MISSLES? at a civilian aircraft?

Did I miss a report on this somewhere?

And if I recall correctly most rocket launchers are dumbfire, hence the term, rocket. You fire it in a direction and off it goes. Same thing with RPGs.

So unless they design a pin-point laser defense grid, or a motion-tracking side mounted weapons system, this amounts to 'Giant Waste of Time.'.

Or, did I miss something?