But Flight Guard, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Israel
Military Industries, was hampered by complaints from foreign countries that
the flares could spark fires in communities near airports. The system was
denied certification by Western states.
Israel began developing a counter-measure system for civilian aircraft
after an Israeli airliner was nearly shot down by Al Qaida in 2003 in Kenya.
Al Qaida was said to have fired an SA-7 toward the Israeli aircraft.
MUSIC uses a laser to blind the infrared sensor of the SA-7 and other
man-portable surface-to-air missiles. El-Op said the counter-measure system
could "take on 1,000 threats at once."
Under the decision, an unspecified amount of money would be relayed
starting in 2008 for the 25-kilogram passive directed infrared system, meant
for installation on passenger aircraft.
"Work on the system began three years ago, specifically for
helicopters," El-Op vice president Yisrael Anschel said. "Adapting it for
bigger aircraft, for planes, will, to all appearances, take another two
years."
MUSIC, designed to protect aircraft from air- and ground-launched
missiles, was developed by El-Op Electro-Optics, a subsidiary of Elbit
Systems. The state-owned Rafael, Israel Armament Development Authority has
dropped out of the project.
