(London Times) Uzi Mahnaimi and Dipesh Gadher - El Al, Israel's national carrier, is to become the first passenger airline operating from Britain to deploy anti-missile technology on its planes to safeguard against a terrorist strike. The new anti-missile system, called Flight Guard, is expected to be installed on all El Al flights to and from Britain by the start of next month, and will automatically trigger decoy flares to divert the path of an incoming, heat-seeking rocket. Israeli aviation officials say Flight Guard's flares have been specially developed to burn for only two or three seconds, emitting infrared energy and little visible light. Nevertheless, America's FAA has stated that El Al flights entering U.S. airspace would have to switch off the system.
2004-06-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive