FAA set to ban EL AL anti-missile system from US airports
The 'Flight Guard' electronic counter-measure system to protect civilian aircraft against shoulder-fired surface to air missiles will be installed on El Al planes in June, as part of an Israel Civil Aviation Administration (ICAA) test, Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), however, refuses to allow civilian planes to be equipped with the flare-based system due to safety risks.
According to Transportation Ministry spokesman Avner Ovadiah, the new anti-missile system will be installed on one El Al aircraft in June, with tests lasting two to three months. If the tests are successful, he said, the system would be installed on all 30 El Al aircraft.
'We expect the first plane to be flying by June, and this is just the beginning of a comprehensive upgrade of the El Al fleet,' Ovadiah said.
The ministry allocated 6 million shekels ($1.3 million) in September to the adaptation of the anti-missile system, currently employed on IAF military aircraft, to civilian planes. Additional funds have since been allocated to develop the program. The government decided to allocate the funds after two Strella anti-aircraft missiles were fired at and just missed an Arkia airliner taking off from Mombassa airport in Kenya in November 2002.
Costing between $750,000 and $1 million per unit, the Flight Guard system's radar-connected sensors respond automatically to an approaching heat-seeking missile, firing thermal decoys to divert the missile from the aircraft.
Aviation sources said Flight Guard is embedded out of sight in the plane's body to avoid drawing attention, and its flares are designed not to be a fire risk if they land in civilian areas, Reuters reported.
Lieberman left this week for a working visit to the U.S, where he will hold talks with Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta and other officials in order to raise awareness about the need to protect civilian passenger aircraft, Globes reported.
Defense industry sources told Globes that the FAA refuses to approve flare-based anti-missile systems for civilian airplanes, due to the safety risks. ICAA director Yitzhak Raz is discussing the matter with the FAA in an effort to change the decision, the paper said.
Flight Guard lost an FAA tender 18 months ago, Globes reported. In view of the failure in the tender, it is not clear how El Al planes equipped with Flight Guard will be able to use U.S. airports, the paper reported.
According to officials familiar with the Flight Guard system, its flares are calibrated not to discharge below a safe altitude in order to prevent fires or injury to people on the ground. The flare-based defense system can also be turned off, allowing the planes to land at U.S. airports, Globes reported. However, it is during the landing and takeoff procedures that aircraft are most vulnerable to the threat of heat-seeking missiles.
Rival manufacturer Rafael (Israel Armament Development Company), is developing its own electro-optical anti-missile defense system for civilian aircraft. The company is greatly encouraged by Flight Guard's troubles with the FAA, Globes reported, as its own system does not fire flares to divert incoming missiles. Rafael executives hope that the Israeli airlines will wait for its systems to be developed, and afterwards they will be able to market them successfully in the U.S.