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Israel plans to equip airliners with missile warning systems

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, December 4, 2002

TEL AVIV Ñ The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will review recommendations shelved for the last two years to develop and install missile warning systems on all Israeli civilian aircraft.

Officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has concluded that Al Qaida would launch a series of attempts to down Israeli aircraft, Middle East Newsline reported.

The officials said the recommendations of the National Security Council would be resubmitted and examined by the Defense Ministry and Transportation Ministry in the wake of the failed Al Qaida attack on an Israeli passenger airliner in Kenya last week. The recommendations called for the completion of a missile warning system for civilian aircraft and the mandatory installation on all Israeli airliners.



"We have been urging for this to begin for two years," Uzi Dayan, the former head of the council, said.

Officials said the Transporation Ministry has approved funding for the electronic warfare defense system for civilian airliners, developed by Rafael, Israel Armament Development Authority. Other contractors are the Elta Electronics Industries and Elisra Electronic Systems.

But the project will need additional funds to ensure completion and deployment, officials said. The system is meant to warn airliners of shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles and take measures to divert them. An undetermined number of civilian aircraft already have missile-protection systems.

"We could install defense systems against shoulder-fired missiles on passenger planes within a few months," Rafael president Giora Shlagi said.

"Helicopters were already equipped with that kind of technology which would only have to be adapted to civilian aircraft. The system is composed of sensors that can detect the launching of a shoulder-fired missile at the plane and a system intended to interfere with its flight.

Officials said they expect the SA-7 missile attack in Kenya to be the first of a series of attempts to down Israeli passenger jets. They said security agencies have recommended that the defense system be quickly developed and deployed.

Rafael's system protects aircraft by aiming a beam toward the missile that simulates the heat of a jet engine, officials said. At that point, the missile, seeking the warmest part of the aircraft, would be diverted. The system is expected to be marketed for $2 million.

Officials said Al Qaida has hired Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to carry out attacks on Israel.

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