Surface To Air Missile Threat
About 18 months ago I wrote to the UK’s CAA with a suggestion to counter the surface to air missile threat. I am still awaiting their feedback but my suggestion is included here for open discussion:
1 Why do we all fly around announcing our identity by using airline-related callsigns and therefore giving terrorists time to arm and prepare their shot knowing who’s next “over the hedge”? In this technological age, I’m sure it should be possible to assign an airline-independent callsign (Varying everyday and unrelated to the Flight Number) as part of the flight plan that only ATC and those directly involved with the flight would know.
This measure would in itself take care of the lone shooter sitting along the line of the flight path with an Air Band radio waiting for the call “American 9876 … Clear take off 27R”. But what of the more complex situation with the missile-launching terrorist connected by mobile phone to a colleague acting as observer located off the centreline? “Yes, looks like BA / American (etc) to me … Arm & Fire when ready”.
This leads me on to point 2:
2 Why do we paint ourselves up like flying target practice boards? If the external colour schemes were also airline-independent then the terrorists wouldn’t know who they were aiming at and the risk of hitting a sympathising county’s aeroplane would force them to look for easier targets elsewhere. The marketing types could still paint their brands all over the ticket counters / aircraft interiors as they do now but externally we'd be making things much harder for the terrorists. And all for a fraction of the cost of incorporating costly & ineffective systems into each and every aeroplane only to find that the weapons systems have themselves evolved and rendered the countermeasures useless anyway.
Sure, there are problems (Harder ground movement control for example) but if several colour schemes were used (red/yellow/blue aeroplanes etc) then this could be tied into the callsign solution outlined in 1 above … “Blue 1234 … Line up behind Yellow 5678” etc. As long as these colours were airline (And nationality) independent then we would at least be making improvements.
More missed calls could also be a problem but could be followed up with a VHF Selcal to “wake up” the crew concerned?
You may think these suggestions stupid (and I may have overlooked something obvious) but now that the electronic countermeasures seem to have been deemed impractical (TOO COSTLY) we do need to consider all other avenues. I’m sure I’m not alone in my belief that an attack in the future is inevitable.
[Sorry if this is not the best place for this thread … Moderators please move as deemed fit]