WSJ: Protecting Jets From Missiles

[question everything]

Protecting Jets From Missiles

Raytheon Says Ground-Based System Is Cheaper and More Effective Than Plane-Mounted Lasers

By JONATHAN KARP
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 14, 2005; Page D4

PARIS -- Raytheon Co. has developed a ground-based system to protect commercial planes from shoulder-launched missiles that it says is cheaper and more effective than the airplane-mounted lasers under consideration by the U.S. government.

The system, which Raytheon has begun demonstrating for the government after successful trials, consists of a network of sensors installed at an airport instead of on individual planes. The sensors can detect and track a heat-seeking missile, triggering the firing of a high-powered microwave beam that electronically confuses the targeting mechanism and diverts the missile away from the airliner.

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Unlike the plane-mounted systems, Raytheon's system would offer protection only near airports. That is where airliners are most vulnerable to the types of shoulder-held missiles that defense officials say are most accessible on the black market.

The government wants the companies to design systems that will cost at most $1 million a plane. But Raytheon says that price tag doesn't include installation and annual maintenance costs. Equipping enough of the U.S. commercial fleet with onboard defenses to provide adequate protection would cost between $30 billion and $41 billion over 20 years, Raytheon says, citing a study by the think tank Rand Corp.

In contrast, Ms. Francesconi said that Raytheon's system could be installed for as little as $25 million per airport. With maintenance costs of about $1.2 million a year per airport, Raytheon estimates its missile-defense system would provide the same protection for between $1.6 billion and $2.6 billion over 20 years.

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Write to Jonathan Karp at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111870726384058639,00.html

[wakeme2008]

1. May I point out to the WSJ--- Raytheon is also the builder

of the PATRIOT MISSILE and we all know how well that worked....