THE LASER THAT CAN PROTECT YOUR FLIGHT

A laser fitted to the belly of commercial airlines can protect them from missile attack.

The 'Guardian' system from American defence specialist Northrop Grumman fires laser beams at incoming rockets to blast them off course.

The anonymous-looking pod is bolted to the bottom of the airplane where it provides 360-degree laser-based missile defence. It then scans the airspace below the aircraft for threats, specifically air-to-surface missiles fired from shoulder-mounted rocket launchers.

If one or more threats are detected, they are tracked until the system confirms that they are guided missiles. At this point, an eye-safe laser sends out a jamming signal that upsets the missile's infrared guidance system and turns the missile away from the airplane.

The Guardian is based on Northrop Grumman's Nemesis system, which is considered the most advanced aircraft-mounted missile defence unit available, able to deal with the most recent guided missile threats.

But despite some criticism that the system is too expensive at a cost of up to $1 million per aircraft, the manufacturers claim that it works out to around a dollar per passenger over the aircraft's service life.

According to the Federation of American Scientists, shoulder mounted guided anti-aircraft missiles, have caused as many as 1000 civilian deaths in the hands of terrorists around the world. Once fired, they follow the heat signature of an aircraft with an effective infra-red guidance system, and a hit is more than likely able to bring the entire aircraft down.

Terrorists find MANPADS (or shoulder mounted guided anti-aircraft missiles) a particularly effective weapon. They are easy to set-up and can target planes from beneath a flight path up to 50 miles either side of an airport.

The Nemesis and multi-band laser jamming technology behind the Guardian system has endured extensive and highly successful testing, including over 100 successful live-fire missile engagements in combat operations aboard military aircraft from the USA, UK, Australia and Denmark.

And Northrop Grumman announced recently that the Guardian system was ready to be deployed on airline fleets around the world.

The defence contractor is now urging global defence departments to install the anti-missile system on commercial airlines that transport soldiers and military equipment to war zones.

"We believe that the most immediate and best use of this kind of technology is to protect those aircraft, those commercial civilian airplanes that you and I fly on, that are called into service to support military troop and cargo movements in and out of those areas today," said Jack Pledger, a Northrop Grumman executive.

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Story by Dean Murray