Associated Press 4:53 p.m. EDT July 27, 2014
ALBANY – Two U.S. legislators on Sunday urged the government to study whether American passenger jets should be equipped with devices protecting them against missiles like the one that brought down a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine and projectiles fired near Tel Aviv's airport.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Steve Israel are asking the Department of Homeland Security, Defense Department and Federal Aviation Administration to consider technologies that would shield commercial aircraft.
A government study should include specific recommendations on the best technology needed to combat both shoulder-fired and surface-to-air missiles, they said. Anti-missile devices include onboard lasers, warning systems, flares and infrared countermeasure systems, costing from $1 million to $2 million per plane, Schumer and Israel said.
The Democratic lawmakers say two major events have raised red flags that require a quick study of defense technologies.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on July 17 by what U.S. officials believe may have been a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired by separatists in Eastern Ukraine. All 298 people aboard died. And last week, the FAA banned American flights to Israel after a rocket landed near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport.
"The tragedy of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, plus numerous missiles being fired near the Tel Aviv airport have made one thing clear this week: we cannot let this happen to an American passenger plane," Schumer said.
As a result, "we are once again reminded that an attack on a civilian aircraft remains a significant threat," Israel said.
The Government Accountability Office believes there are between 500,000 and 750,000 portable surface-to-air missiles in existence worldwide. The State Department estimates thousands may be in the hands of terrorists.
Packaged in tubes, portable missiles can be concealed in a car trunk along with a launching mechanism and battery, making them especially dangerous, the lawmakers said.
Schumer noted that since 1973, at least 30 civilian aircraft have been downed by shoulder fired missiles, killing about 920 people, according to Stratfor, a Global Intelligence firm in Austin, Texas.
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/2014/07/27/lawmakers-push-airline-anti-missile-systems/13241951/-------------------------------------------
[wikipedia]
-------------------------------------------Charles Ellis "Chuck" "Pro-Israeli Hack" Schumer ... is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party.
He attended Harvard College ... passed the New York State Bar Exam in early 1975, but never practised law, entering politics instead.
Steven J. "Steve" Israel ... is a U.S. Representative for New York's 3rd congressional district, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Democratic Party and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
[wikipedia]
MANPADS
Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS or MPADS) are shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). They are typically guided weapons and are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters. [wikipedia]
They look like a big shoulder-steadied portable 'telescopes' that have a barrel to fire off what I'd consider 'snack-sized' missiles at targets -- ie small sized missiles.
[ wikileaks.org/gifiles/attach/25/25335_MANPADS%20for%20c.e..doc ]
Civilian Attack History
The first known cases of attempted MANPADS attacks against civilian aircraft were in 1973 in Rome. In both January and September of that year, Black September militants attempted to strike Israeli flights, one of which was carrying then-prime minister Golda Meir. Both attempts were thwarted in their final minutes. In the case of Golda Meir’s plane in January, the militants who were positioned around the airport with the weapons were caught before her plane touched down. In the second attempt, police raided the militants’ apartment as the militants, who had positioned themselves outside on the balcony, prepared to shoot at the plane as it taxied down the runway.
Two years later, the first successful MANPADS attack against a civilian aircraft came in the form of an SA-7 missile launched by North Vietnamese forces against a Douglas C-54D Air Vietnam flight, resulting in the deaths of all 26 passengers and crew members. One of the most famous civilian MANPADS attacks was in 1994, when two SA-16s were used to shoot down a Rwandan government flight whose passengers (and victims) included the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi. This event sparked the Rwandan genocide, which resulted in approximately 800,000 deaths in 100 days. (The identity of those responsible for this attack remains a matter of debate.) Over the years, MANPADS attacks have been plotted and actively attempted in at least 20 countries, resulting in more than 900 civilian fatalities.
[ wikileaks.org/gifiles/attach/25/25335_MANPADS%20for%20c.e..doc ]
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Source US Dept of State: http://2001-2009.state.gov/t/pm/rls/fs/107632.htm
Site lists some of the strategies of decommissioning MANPADS and provides links.
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RAND REPORT - 2005 - Infrastructure, Safety and Environment
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2005/RAND_OP106.pdf
Rand Corporation - Figure 2.1
Proliferation of MANPADS among Selected NON-State Groups
Rand Corporation - Figure 6.1
Summary of Potential Counters to MANPADS
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COMMENT
Civilian aircraft anti-missile systems became the subject of debate post 9/11.
The New York politicians calling for civilian aircraft anti-missile technologies, do so citing the recent downing of a civilian aircraft (MH17) flying over a Ukrainian war zone and citing rockets fired at Tel Aviv airport, in what is a Middle Eastern war zone in a conflict that has now spanned how many decades?
It's unclear how these two war zone examples could possibly amount to a perceived "significant threat" of attack on civilian aircraft that are under the control of US authorities.
There's a bunch of MANPADS that have gone missing in Libya:
U.S. Still Hunting for Missing Libyan MANPADS
Feb. 2, 2012 - 05:38PM
...
However, while there is no definitive evidence that any of the weapons left the country, the U.S. government is not ruling out that possibility, according to Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs.
...
The weapons, also called man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, pose a threat to commercial and military aircraft worldwide. The real concern for the United States is that the weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.
It’s believed Gadhafi had an estimated 20,000 MANPADS when his regime collapsed, posing a “major proliferation challenge,” Shapiro said.
To date, about 5,000 MANPADS have been identified, recovered and secured, Shapiro said.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120202/DEFREG02/302020009/U-S-Still-Hunting-Missing-Libyan-MANPADS
A more detailed New York politician (ie Schumer and Israel) and MANPADS story (later disovered) is here -
... terrorist organizations like Hamas in Gaza, Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Syrian insurgents, and groups in Mali, Yemen, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, and other places. The U.S. led a $40 million buyback program to acquire loose missiles in the region, but were only able to secure 5,000 of an estimated 20,000 anti – aircraft systems that once belonged to the Gadhafi regime. After tensions rose in November 2012 between Israel and the Hamas in the Gaza strip, Hamas released a video of it possessing MANPADS. In Syria, thousands of soldiers have defected and set up new battalions that have shot down military helicopters and jets and in Iraq the radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group has taken large swaths of territory and seized weapons depots of the Iraqi Army along the way.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140727/NEWS/140729730/-1/NEWS
Check out that whopping $40 million buy-back program!!!
Buy-back doesn't seem very successful despite the tempting cash offer.
In my view, it's doubtful that missing MANPADS are all within the confines of the Libyan territory. The bet is they're somewhere in the Middle East or maybe some have reached Africa or gone north. [*Still get Libya and Syria mixed up! LOL. They're already in Africa if they're Libyan MANPADS. LOL.]
Buy-back doesn't seem very successful despite the tempting cash offer.
In my view, it's doubtful that missing MANPADS are all within the confines of the Libyan territory. The bet is they're somewhere in the Middle East or maybe some have reached Africa or gone north. [*Still get Libya and Syria mixed up! LOL. They're already in Africa if they're Libyan MANPADS. LOL.]
However, the likelihood of MANPADS threatening civilian aircraft beyond world hotspots and war zones is probably minimal.
So what are the New York politicians currently lobbying for?
It looks like some pie in the sky civil aviation protection scheme that is going to raise the cost of travel and raise a whole lot of other costs and issues along the way.
But, first, there must be an expensive, US tax-payer funded study on the subject.
Are these guys for real or is this just a publicity stunt?
But, first, there must be an expensive, US tax-payer funded study on the subject.
Are these guys for real or is this just a publicity stunt?
What about a common sense approach like, uuuumm, maybe not flying over war zones?
---------------------------
Other
RAND CORPORATION
RAND Corporation (Research ANd Development) is a non-profit global policy think tank formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company. It is financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations including the health care industry, universities and private individuals.New to looking at politics and organisations, so I'm a little confused about the status of Rand Corporation.
Is it an NGO or a GO?
Quickie check to see what others have to say:
The RAND Corporation is a notoriously powerful NGO with deep ties to the U.S. military-industrial complex as well as interlocking connections with the Ford, Rockefeller, and Carnegie foundations. [here]
The author of that quote (Daily Paul) wrote back in 2008 that Rand Corporation is lobbying for the goverment to start a war with China or Russia, to stimulate the economy.
Anyway, I take it Rand Corporation is an NGO.
