TEL AVIV Ñ Israel has adapted a military system for civilian use to protect commercial
airliners from shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
The development was revealed amid heightened warnings that Palestinian insurgents
and their Hizbullah allies seek to destroy civilian aircraft flying to and
from Israel.
Rafael, Israel Armament Development Authority, has announced a system to
protect civilian aircraft from surface-to-air missiles. The company said its
system is based on a military model that protects air force helicopters
against infrared missiles, Middle East Newsline reported.
The Rafael system is called Britening. A Rafael executive, Patrick
Bar-Avi, said the system consists of a electro-optical suite that identifies
a missile threat. At that point, the system monitors the missile and diverts
its course.
The method of diversion involves the use of chaff and flares. executives
said. They said the Britening is based on the Aero-Gem, a Rafael system to
protect military helicopters from surface-to-air missiles.
Last week, an Israeli El Al pilot detected what he asserted was a
missile fired when he was flying enroute to Moscow from Tel Aviv. In October
2001, a Ukrainian missile shot down a plane full of Israelis and Russian
Jews on their way from Tel Aviv to Russia.
Israeli military sources said both the Palestinian Authority as well as
Hizbullah have been determined as having obtained such surface-to-air as the
SA-7 Strella. The sources said Hizbullah has been targeting Israeli civilian
aircraft that land at an airport near the Lebanese border.
