http://198.65.138.161/org/news/2004/040904-missile-risk.htmUS tackles missile terror risk
In-Depth Coverage
Shortly after two Russian Tupolev airliners crashed last week, possibly downed by terrorist bombs, the US unveiled a plan to thwart another possible threat to civil aircraft.
On 25 August the Department of Homeland Security announced it has awarded two $45 million contracts to test a plane-mounted computer vision system that can spot a missile when it is launched, track it and then blind it with a powerful laser. The system was originally designed for mounting on military aircraft.
Officials are worried about the threat posed by shoulder-launched missiles such as the American Stinger and Russian SA-7b, which are small, portable and reliant on "fire-and-forget" infrared guidance to home in on their targets. They are particularly concerned about the thousands of Stingers the US gave to Mujaheddin groups fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Several hundred are thought to be unused and in the hands of Al-Qaida groups.
But big questions about the testing programme remain. Chief among these is who will pay -- an issue the Department of Homeland Security has studiously avoided. The cost of fitting the 5000-strong US airliner fleet with laser systems is likely to run to as much as $10 billion. "It's either increased fares or higher taxes," says John Pike, a security analyst at the GlobalSecurity.org think tank in Alexandria, Virginia. "One way or another, the American public will have to foot the bill."
Now that's proactive counter-terrorism. But who will whine about raising taxes?
