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Congress Stops Funding Commercial Airline Defense Tech
Popular Mechanics ^ | 10/18/2010 | By Roxana Tiron

Posted on 10/21/2010 11:31:51 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the federal government was ready to investigate solutions to nearly every terrorist threat to civilian aviation. Nearly 10 years later, there has been a subtle shift away from some high-tech solutions to real but low-probability threats. In the case of shoulder-launched missiles aimed at commercial airliners, the government has changed tactics from gadgetry to policy; the White House and Congress this year quietly stopped funding laser-jamming equipment that could scramble missiles as they track the heat of aircraft.

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; airlines; civilaviation; commercialairlines; defensedepartment; manpads; missiledefense; uscongress

1 posted on 10/21/2010 11:31:56 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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To: ErnstStavroBlofeld

Can there be any doubt that Treason is afoot?


2 posted on 10/21/2010 11:38:53 PM PDT by J Edgar
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To: ErnstStavroBlofeld

It’s incredible–every single article I read on Free Republic these days seems to bring a fresh insanity.

What the hell is going on–we lost 3000 Americans in a single terror attack by airplane so now we stop the development of technologies that could prevent another such attack on an airliner?

We canceled the F-22? And then the government ordered Lockheed to destroy all the tools and dies to make the aircraft? Why?

I see people talking about treason and I used to think that this was over the line. But I have stopped thinking so.

What kind of country refuses to develop its own defenses? What kind of country councils the finest jetfighter in the world? What kind of country refuses to develop defenses against rocket attacks on civilian airliners? Does he really really really need that money so desperately to hand out welfare checks and to redistribute the wealth even further?

What made this country great?

Was it all the welfare checks that were handed out? All the free section 8 housing? The failed war on poverty? The $3 trillion in deficits in just 20 months?

Please think about this next time you get on an airliner to fly somewhere.


3 posted on 10/21/2010 11:54:10 PM PDT by DontTreadOnMe2009 (So stop treading on me already!)
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To: J Edgar
Third post tonight where it's clear that Obama and Gates have made a move that indicates a visible softening of our defensive stance.

And in public... To security-cleared news people....Written in clear English so all of the simple online translators will ensure the whole damned world knows!

Oh....so THIS is what he meant by “trasparacy”.

What dupes we are.

4 posted on 10/22/2010 12:03:59 AM PDT by rmccullo
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To: DontTreadOnMe2009
Canceling technical and defense projects creates more opportunities for 'Shovel ready' jobs. It's all part of obama's plan for economic recovery.
5 posted on 10/22/2010 12:13:53 AM PDT by BIGLOOK (Keelhaul Congress!)
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To: DontTreadOnMe2009
What kind of country refuses to develop its own defenses?

To my knowledge, there has never been an actual case where a terrorist tried to shoot down a plane with a shoulder launched missile in the United States. So, I'm not sure it's really worth spending billions to outfit every plane with defenses against this.

If the airlines want to keep their planes safe, they can spend their own money to install their own defensive systems. The passengers whose safety is so important that they are willing to pay hundreds more for a flight can choose to fly those airlines. No tax money needs to be spent on this.

6 posted on 10/22/2010 12:25:42 AM PDT by arista
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To: DontTreadOnMe2009

Insanity is the operative world. The left, even the nominally non-psychotic types, have lost even the remotest grasp of reality. “Tax and spend” was dumb enough. Now we have “borrow from Red China and spend.” Disarming ourselves in the face of exponentially increasing world threats?

Things simply can’t go on like this for much longer. There will be “change” alright. More change than Obama, you, or me know what to do with.


7 posted on 10/22/2010 12:39:03 AM PDT by Mad_as_heck (The MSM - America's (domestic) public enemy #1.)
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To: rmccullo
You are very perceptive, and yes we are indeed in trouble on the survivability front.
Only prayer and active, maximum vigilance will bring us through the next few years, I feel.
8 posted on 10/22/2010 12:43:26 AM PDT by J Edgar
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To: J Edgar

Sure. We don’t have infinite money and every security decision involves trade-offs.

To outfit every civilian airliner with military-grade anti-missile decoys and defenses would have been insanely expensive. That money could be used in other anti-terrorism ways; for example, hiring more analysts, Arabic translators, more Predators to attack terrorists in Northwest Pakistan, etc.

And also the little known-reality is that MANPADS warheads are small and the odds that a 737 or larger survives a hit from one are pretty good; Even 50% of single-engine fighters survive MANPADS hits. They basically take out an engine. Commercial aircraft are designed to be able to fly after losing an engine and pilots are trained for that emergency.

Dick Cheney canceled the Navy A-12 stealth attack aircraft. Was he a “traitor”?


9 posted on 10/22/2010 3:16:45 AM PDT by Strategerist
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To: ErnstStavroBlofeld
It would cost $43 billion over 20 years to protect all wide-body and large narrow-body passenger aircraft.

A 3 nuclear warhead ICBM costs $50 million. Name each warhead Mecca, Medina, Hebron. Have the missile programmed to launch automatically if any airliner is shot down.

10 posted on 10/22/2010 3:44:20 AM PDT by Reeses (Now is the autumn of our discontent.)
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To: Strategerist

“Dick Cheney canceled the Navy A-12 stealth attack aircraft. Was he a “traitor”?”
Is Dick Cheney a Globalist? I believe he is indeed.
Do I trust Dick Cheney? Nope?
Is Dick Cheney a traitor? Not sure.

You have a valid point concerning cost, and your suggested alternate options are valid and, perhaps, even necessary.
Are they going to be implemented? Nope,
If you think I am unnecessarily cynical, read the book “The Franklin Cover-up” by John W. Decamp available at Amazon.
Thanks for the informative response.


11 posted on 10/22/2010 3:08:37 PM PDT by J Edgar
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