Tens of thousands of airline passengers will soon be flying on jets outfitted with anti-missile systems as part of a new government test aimed at thwarting terrorists armed with shoulder-fired projectiles.Ah, yes, the old "solution in search of a problem". I imagine it's possible that terrorists could get some shoulder-launched missile launchers and start shooting at our passenger airplanes, but they certainly haven't in the last six years, or ever. Is it really worth spending millions of dollars (the program above for three planes costs $29 million) on this unlikely scenario?
I love this part:
Jets will fly with the jammer device mounted on the belly of the plane, between the wheels. The device works with sensors, also mounted on the plane, that detect a heat-seeking missile and shoot a laser at it to send the missile veering harmlessly off course.Where the missile will land harmlessly on a grade school or perhaps a boat show.
And what will these tests prove? Will they be firing test missiles at the planes? Advertise the flights to get terrorists to take potshots? According to the article, no. The tests will demonstrate fuel consumption and maintenance requirements. Sweet. That'll show those terrorists just how fuel efficient our anti-missile systems are! Take that, Osama!
Just another day in the culture of fear.
2 comments:
Just another example of how this administration will do anything to justify its aggressive military policies but really couldn't care less about actual safety issues, terrorism-related or otherwise. They certainly aren't willing to spend the money to upgrade the flight control system to make flying safer generally. This would have a hell of a lot more impact than installing missiles on planes. Of course, that would involve spending money on regulation and you can't do that.
That reminds me, I’ve got a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile launcher for sale. NIB.
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