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Sun 29 May, 2005 07:19 pm
May 29, 2005
U.S. Is Set to Test Missile Defenses Aboard Airlines
By ERIC LIPTON
In an airplane hangar north of Fort Worth, technicians are preparing to mount a fire-hydrant-shaped device onto the belly of an American Airlines Boeing 767. It is an effort that could soon turn into a more than $10 billion project to install a high-tech missile defense system on the nation's commercial planes.
The Boeing 767 - the same type of plane that terrorists flew into the World Trade Center - is one of three planes that, by the end of this year, will be used to test the infrared laser-based systems designed to find and disable shoulder-fired missiles. The missiles have long been popular among terrorists and rebel groups in war zones around the world; the concern now is that they could become a domestic threat.
The tests are being financed by the Department of Homeland Security, which has been directed by Congress to move rapidly to take technology designed for military aircraft and adapt it so it can protect the nation's 6,800 commercial jets. It has so far invested $120 million in the testing effort, which is expected to last through next year.
Yet even before the tests begin, some members of Congress, and several prominent aviation and terrorism experts, are questioning whether the rush to deploy this expensive new antiterrorism system makes sense.
Comment: Why, and who's going to pay for all this?
It's kind of like the Apollo missions to the moon.
As long as people keep spending money like there's no tomorrow,
then hopefully there will be some work to do tomorrow.
You can't raise taxes and even increase one's power base,
unless there is a LOT of demand for products and activity
which you may help to provide.
Would less expenditure lead to more productivity? Honestly,
is there any other way a politician or business-person can get ahead in life
except to create and sell far more than we need?
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