Missile defense needed for civil planes

By Kyle Peterson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Systems to protect commercial planes from shoulder-fired missiles are almost ready but airlines and the U.S. government may not start using them unless the public perceives an imminent threat, leading executives at two defense manufacturers said on Monday.

Airlines must have the technology to respond to missile threats -- even if they seem unlikely today -- said Walt Havenstein, who takes over as chief of BAE Systems Plc BA.L in the United States on January 1.

"If somebody shoots a missile at one of our airplanes coming in off the Chesapeake Bay, and someone says 'Oh, that's what it was,' then life changes," Havenstein said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington.

Jim Pitts, president of the electronic systems unit at U.S. No. 3 defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), echoed the notion that implementation would be far more likely if the traveling public actually feared missile attacks on planes.

"Unfortunately I think a lot of it might be driven by an event," Pitts said.

Both companies are working with the U.S. Homeland Security Department on laser-based systems to protect planes from infrared guided-missile threats.

BAE's device, known as JETEYE, is being flight-tested on a Boeing 767 owned by AMR Corp.'s (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) American Airlines. Northrop's Guardian has been tested on both Boeing 747 and MD-11 aircraft.

BAE, Europe's largest defense company, and the U.S. government have spent less than $100 million on the project so far, but that amount could climb to around $150 million by the end of the current phase of testing, Havenstein said.

Homeland Security officials also are working with Northrop on a competing system called Guardian. Pitts said Northrop and the government have spent about $150 million on the project so far.

It remains unclear, however, whether Northrop and BAE will satisfy government and airline industry cost concerns as well as make the concept cheap and reliable enough for the rigorous demands of the commercial sector.

Pitts said the cost to airlines for the Guardian system on a single plane could be about $1 million and that the expense could be passed from airlines to their passengers by adding $1 to the price of a ticket.

But most major airlines, already battered by soaring fuel costs and low-fare competition, have objected loudly to paying for government-imposed security measures. They say the broader public -- not just travelers -- benefit from airline security.

Furthermore, airlines say, it is not that easy to get customers to pay additional security fees in a highly competitive fare environment.

BAE and Northrop's systems have been adapted from military equipment and sense ultraviolet energy given off by launched missiles and fire lasers at the missile's guidance equipment to knock it off its heat-seeking course.

Proponents of the technology for airliners say the estimated multibillion dollar cost could be reduced sharply if security officials selectively applied the technology rather than place it on the entire commercial fleet of more than 6,000 airplanes.  Continued...