Posted on 09/07/2003 9:41:44 AM PDT by yonif
El Al Israel Airlines will apparently be the first civilian airline to have anti-missile gadgetry installed on its planes. The Israeli-made system is called FlightGuard, and its manufacturer, Elta Systems, expects orders from two other Israeli airlines as well: Arkia and IsraAir. Elta's Director-General Yisrael Livnat said that the El Al orders "are a shot of adrenaline to our international marketing efforts, as El Al is a world model in security."
Missiles were fired at an Arkia plane that took off from Mombasa, Kenya last year, but missed their target. International intelligence sources estimate that 30 terrorist organizations are currently in possession of rockets, some 150,000 of which - mostly Soviet-made - are available for $5,000 each. Twenty-seven passenger planes have been felled by rockets, and terrorists are not expected to rest on their laurels. The Elta system costs $1 million, while similar anti-rocket systems by Alisra and Rafael cost $1.5 million.
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