<CONTENTS
<Home<Summary<Team<Advisory Board<Central Issue<Goals<International Integrity Standard<Projects<Publications<Ehrenfeld Vita<Links<News<Contact ACD
Webpage Editor:
Ingrid H. Shafer, Ph.D.
ecumene.org
Posted 26 July 2000
Last revised 22 March 2005
Viewpoint<
Stop Gambling With Passengers' Lives, Install Antimissile Devices Now
Rachel Ehrenfeld
A well-tested and proven technology is available to protect America's 6,800 commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles. Yet, a recent RAND study, "Protecting Commercial Aviation Against the Shoulder-Fired Missile Threat," concludes that "a decision to install such systems aboard commercial airliners should be postponed until the technologies can be developed and shown to be more compatible in a commercial environment."
RAND's study concentrated on American anti-missile laser devices, which indeed require further development. However, a countermissile system developed by Israel Aircraft Industries has been in service on most Israeli airliners since 2003. The device, called Flight Guard, costs about $800,000 per unit and was installed on government orders with initial public funding following a missile attack on an Arkia Boeing 757 in Mombasa, Kenya. This system is fully automatic, so it does not add to pilot workload. It responds automatically to an approaching heat-seeking missile, dispensing low-visibility flares, or "dark flares," that divert the attacking missile from the aircraft.
Flight Guard is a civilian version of a military antimissile system that has been used by the Israel Air Force for at least a decade and has been tested for a long time. The system was installed only after it proved to be highly effective against SAMs including the shoulder-fired SA-7, which are readily available on the black market all over the world.
RAND claims that outfitting the U.S. fleet with antimissile devices would cost $11 billion, and that such an expense is unjustified. However, equipping the fleet with Flight Guard would cost only around $6.5 billion. Operating costs are low, because the devices need only semi-annual maintenance. In addition, because some commercial aircraft in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet can be used by the military in times of crisis, the cost of outfitting those airplanes could be picked up by the Defense Dept.
RAND concluded that it is currently not cost-effective to spend billions of dollars equipping aircraft with antimissile systems. Indeed, the immediate cost may look steep, but it pales in comparison with the loss of hundreds of lives when a shoulder-launched missile hits a plane at 18,000 ft. Moreover, talking about "cost-effectiveness" when the lives of innocent people are in danger will be difficult to justify to the American people. Few could argue that investing less than $1 million per plane to safeguard the lives of passengers is unjustifiable. And, the lives lost would not be the only cost. The RAND study admits that a successful missile attack on an American commercial jet would also spark an economic crisis costing at least $15 billion.
What is more, the cost of equipping airliners with countermeasures could change. As Isaac Yeffet, a former chief of global security for El Al Israel Airlines and now a security consultant in New York, said, "Once, God forbid, one U.S. airlines [is] blown up by a missile and hundreds of innocent lives are lost, the U.S. government will find the money to ensure the passengers' safety."
What the RAND study recommends as alternative approaches to increase passenger security leaves something to be desired. For example, the study calls for "expanding efforts to keep missiles out of terrorists' hands." This is indeed a very good idea. However, considering the fact that at least 700,000 missiles are known to have been produced around the world and that tens of thousands of them are unaccounted for, we should not expect all of them to be recovered.
Next, the study recommends, "improving security around the perimeters of the airports." This is certainly important, because what we have in place is far from satisfactory. However, judging by the range of shoulder-fired missiles, this improvement would do little to foil an attack. These missiles can hit airplanes up to 2.5 mi. away as they take off or approach the airport. In addition, the study recommends "improving commercial airliners' ability to survive a missile strike." But how can this be done without antimissile systems?
In early February, FBI Director Robert Mueller warn- ed the Senate Intelligence Committee that "Al Qaeda continues to adapt and move forward with its desire to attack the United States using any means at its disposal. Their intent to attack us at home remains, and their resolve to destroy America has never faltered." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA director Porter Goss issued similar warnings. Since the U.S. is the No. 1 target for terrorist attacks by those who swear to destroy its economy and since its airlines are the favorite targets of Al Qaeda, no cost should be spared to protect the lives of U.S. citizens.
There is no doubt that every passenger would gladly pay a few extra dollars to ensure that he or she has the best protection available. The Israeli airlines have used such devices successfully for a while now. Although the Israelis are still waiting for the FAA's certification to fly aircraft equipped with this system to the U.S., El Al and other Israeli airlines are flying planes armed with "Flight Guard" everywhere else.
It is time for Congress to allocate the necessary funds for the government and U.S. commercial fleets, so they can adopt already proven antimissile devices until the advanced laser antimissile system is developed. This investment in our defense is the cost-effective step that needs to be taken instead of playing Russian roulette with U.S. economic prosperity and putting the lives of American passengers at risk.
Rachel Ehrenfeld is author of "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed-And How to Stop It." She is director of the American Center for Democracy and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.
<
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is Director of the American Center for Democracy and author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed-And How to Stop It. She is a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.
<REVIEW<Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It <