Simulating SAM Attack On Commercial Aircraft
Across the US, airports and airlines
are staging exercises that are supposed to improve their ability to
defend against a shoulder-launched missile attack on commercial
aircraft. There's no fresh intelligence suggesting such an attack
is on the way, according to the TSA. But it is an election year,
and the Department of Homeland Security says it could certainly
happen.
The Washington Post reports local police, airlines, airports and
community groups have been co-opted in the exercises. Officials and
citizens talk over ways to prevent a variety of scenarios that,
unchecked, would lead to the downing of a low-flying commercial
aircraft.
"The focus is largely on our reaction to the threat and
coordination" with various agencies and property owners near
airports, according to TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark.
What's interesting about these
latest exercises, according to the Post, is the apparent shift in
focus among the participants. Last year, you might remember
lawmakers on Capitol Hill had $6 billion burning a hole in their
collective pocket, money to be spent on equipping civilian
jetliners with missile defense systems. Companies like Raytheon and
Israel's IAI went to work, quickly coming up with some alternatives
that could cost more than $1 million per aircraft.
But Congressman John Mica (R-FL), who was an early champion of
that idea, has recently had a big-time change of heart. "There are
a whole host of problems," he told the Post. So, instead, he wrote
legislation passed last week by the House Aviation Subcommittee
(which he chairs) calling for a speeded-up review of anti-missile
technology. He also wants the Bush administration to do more to
curb the proliferation of shoulder-fired SAM technology
worldwide.
The commercial aircraft industry appears to be having second
thoughts as well. When ATA President James May testified on Capitol
Hill last week, he said adding missile defense systems to
commercial aircraft would be like "putting a Volkswagen bus on the
belly of an airplane." The expense of installing and maintaining
such a system would be prohibitive, he said.
But the idea of equipping commercial aircraft with anti-missile
systems still has its proponents. Israel's flag carrier, El Al, is
already working on a program to put missile defense capabilities
aboard its fleet. An airline in Thailand is doing the same
thing.
"Once, God forbid, one US airliner
will be blown up by a missile and we will lose hundreds of innocent
lives, you will see how the government will not only have $8
billion [for the technology], the government will have $16
billion," said Isaac Yeffet, former director of security at El Al,
in an interview with the Post. "We need to act."
Besides, Mica said, if we wait around for the FAA to go through
normal certification procedures, a lot of us won't have to worry
about flying with them. We'll be too old to travel. "If we go
through the normal process of FAA certification for this equipment,
it might not be until our kids are flying as adults that we see
these things on aircraft," Mica said.