Posted on 07/18/2014 12:22:55 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is calling for commercial airplanes to be equipped with missile defense systems after a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday.
Kirk said Friday in an interview with CNN that the missile defense system would prevent a repeat of Thursday's crash, which killed the 298 passengers aboard the flight.
"I would have another suggestion that there is a system called DIRCM, which could potentially defeat heat-seeking missiles looking to shoot down a civilian airliner," Kirk said after calling for "one hell of a wrongful death suit" to be filed against Russia.
"It is an active defense system," Kirk continued. "DIRCM cost about $2 million each to blind a heat-seeking missile that is coming at you."
U.S. and Ukraine officials have said believe the flight was shot down by Russian separatists who have been battling Kiev in a dispute over the country's shared border with Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine bears responsibility for shooting down the jetliner because the incident occured in the latter country's airspace.
Kirk said Friday that the evidence thus far points to Russia as being the culprit. "It does appears the Buk missile system is so complicated that it would need a back-up from a nation state, like Russia," he said. "That would mean that Russian armed forces are directly involved in this wrongful death of roughly 300 people."
Only one of the nearly 300 passengers who were on board the downed plane have been found to be a U.S. citizen thus far, but Kirk said he still hoped the Department of Justice would get involved in the investigation of the incident.
"I want to hear that the Department of Justice will bring one hell of a wrongful death suit against Russian assets that are located in the United States to make sure there is a significant cost paid by Russia for this action of shooting down an international airliner with a weapons system that is directly related to the Russian forces," he said.
Ummmm.... No. Hell no.
Just don't fly over war zones.
Effectively militarizes us as a nation and a community with a border running thru it.
I know he has had issues, but really.
Yeah. Sure. Why not pay for it with a $1000 surcharge on every airline ticket sold?
Every damn thing that happens, they just cannot control themselves from thinking of themselves as the saviors.
Stupid fool thinks there’s an easy answer to everything. Here’s actually an easy answer: Don’t fly over war zones. If you do, don’t expect that a defense against a short-range heat seeking guidance system will be very useful against a radar guided missile.
We need large bird radar detectors more than we do chaff and flares... And a good meal.
Yeah ... put IR defenses on aircraft, so they won’t get shot down with RADAR guided missiles.
That sure makes sense.
I propose the installation of a cone-of-silence over every politicians head in the immediate aftermath of any big media event.
I have no problems making such defensive armaments available to civilian aircraft. However, no government program should require them or subsidize them. If a private aviation commercial enterprise desires such products and can still market the seats in the marketplace, more power to them.
But the invisible hand of the market should determine the value of such systems. Not some government bureaucrat.
And this going to cost how much?
Thank God for the gop. Where else would the crony capitalists find such stellar allies?
We could bring back a B17 arrangement of gunners and have willing and capable passengers rotate if offered greatly reduced fares.
Who’s dropping money in his pocket? Boeing? GoOGle?
It’s only a matter of time.. Corporations should stay out of politics.
Politicians should stay out of blind business relationships.
Is he out of his mind? Talk about requiring safety without regard to cost or probability.
Why do these people always legislate for the anomalies?
What an idiot. It wasn’t a heat-seeker that brought down the plane, but a sophisticated radar-guided SAM.
These people can’t think of enough ways to f&^% up taxpayer money!
What a nitwit.
If the government is hiding "Shields" technology along with the alien UFO's I think it should be released to the private sector to help [protect our places, heck shields could help protect planes against birds.
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