Israel and the United States are to launch a joint project to protect civil aviation from missile attacks, Israeli public radio reported on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved a defence ministry proposal for the project on Wednesday, the radio said. The report comes a week after Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would use talks with his European counterparts to
propose a security consortium to deal with the threat.
Studies will also be carried out on equipping airliners with the same type of thermal decoys used by combat planes and helicoptersto deflect infrared-guided missiles, the radio said.
A further study is being conducted by Israel to develop electronic counter-measures, it added. Israeli officials said earlier this month that it was possible to quickly equip all airliners with an electronic scrambling system protecting them from missiles fired from portable launchers.
A system called Brightning contains sensors that pick up heat given off by missiles and is linked to a miniature radar system that turns the missiles away from their target. An official from Israel’s state-run Raphael Centre for weapons research has estimated the cost of equipping an airliner with the system at two million dollars.
Netanyahu, speaking on the first stop of a four-capital European tour last week, warned that international airlines faced a ”clear and present danger” of missile attack worldwide.
To deal with the threat he proposed ”an international consortium, first with a few leading companies, using the kind of technology we have perfected in Israel that can protect civilian airlines from incoming missiles.”
His warning followed the firing of two missiles at an Israeliairliner in Kenya last month, the same day 16 people were killed in a suicide bombing at an Israeli-run hotel in Mombasa. The missiles missed the plane, which had 261 Israeli tourists
aboard. – Sapa-AFP