USA Today January 16, 2003
Missiles seen as growing menace to airliners
By Tom Squitieri
WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials are increasingly worried that terrorists will use shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missiles to shoot down one or more U.S. airliners. The concern comes in part because such attacks would be so devastating, but also because intelligence information suggests terrorists are making those attacks a priority.
Intelligence officials and terrorism experts say intercepted communications and the interrogation of captured terrorists indicate that airliner attacks are among the "high value" attacks under active consideration by al-Qaeda and its successor groups.
In response, the Transportation Security Administration is assessing the threat at the 82 largest airports in the USA to increase security in the most vulnerable areas.
"There is no quick fix to eliminate the threat," Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said in a letter to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. "A host of additional actions are underway which cumulatively will make air travel more secure."
The missile threat has prompted the Defense Department to accelerate efforts to develop safeguards that could help protect airliners. And White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday that the National Security Council, the White House Office of Homeland Security, the FBI and transportation safety agencies are part of a task force assessing the threat. "There have already been steps taken" that are confidential for security reasons, he said, and more plans are in the works.
Heat-seeking missiles are inexpensive, relatively easy to obtain on the black market and extremely dangerous. Afghan rebels used U.S.-supplied Stinger missiles to destroy Soviet jets and attack helicopters in the 1980s. Terrorists have recently tried to use older, Soviet-made SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles to bring down U.S. military aircraft in Saudi Arabia and an Israeli airliner in Kenya. Those attempts failed, but experts say success could just be a matter of time.
Officials worry that terrorists could target U.S. airports, many of which are surrounded by neighborhoods or other areas where terrorists could hide and attack jets as they land or take off. Jets that routinely cruise at 500 mph or faster fly much more slowly near the ground. A Boeing 737 typically flies its landing approach at 150-160 mph, for example. Even the slower shoulder-fired missiles can fly almost 1,000 mph, more than fast enough to overtake a jet.
"We know that we are vulnerable to that, and the question is, what do we do about it now?" said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
A heat-seeking missile operates much like a point-and-shoot camera. The operator aims at a plane's engines, which are heat sources, "locks on" the target for about six seconds, and fires.
The missile has an infrared sensor that "sees" the aircraft's heat plume; a computer navigational system guides the weapon to an engine. A commercial pilot would almost never see a missile coming and could generally react only after the missile hit an engine or exploded nearby.
There are an estimated 500,000 shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missiles in the world, officials say. Though most remain in government hands, many have leaked out onto the black market and into the hands of terrorist groups.
"This is a very tenacious threat," said Steve Luckey, chairman of the national security committee of the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest pilots union. "We've got 5,000 to 10,000 (missiles) loose out there. They are very affordable and easy to get into the country."
Last May, the FBI warned airlines that terrorists may have smuggled surface-to-air missiles into the USA. Also in May, Saudi authorities found the remains of an SA-7 missile-launching tube near Prince Sultan Air Base, which is used by U.S. aircraft.
The concerns intensified in November. Early that month, several men reportedly linked to al-Qaeda were arrested in Hong Kong trying to exchange heroin and hashish for Stinger missiles. Then on Nov. 28, two missiles were fired in a failed attack on an Arkia-Israeli Airlines Boeing 757 as it took off from Mombasa, Kenya.
The serial number on a Soviet-made missile-launcher tube discovered near the Mombasa airport was similar to that on the scorched SA-7 tube found near the Prince Sultan base in May. The sequence of the numbers suggests they may have been bought from the same source and were almost certainly produced at the same facility, a military source says.
In December, officials from several federal agencies, including the Defense Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation and the State Department, held three days of meetings to explore the threat and discuss ways to protect commercial airlines from attack.
Many major U.S. airports are in urban areas, where rooftops and building windows provide locations for firing at airplanes. Some airports are along highways with areas for aviation enthusiasts to watch takeoffs and landings. Still others, such as New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, are in marsh areas or have woods that could shield terrorists. Some are along waterways, where boats are routinely anchored.
"We have not received a great deal of information from government authorities about the exact nature of the threat," said Stephen Van Beek, senior vice president for policy at the Airports Council International-North America. "For example, how far away would one have to be (to shoot down a plane)? Is it from zero to 3,000 feet or is it from zero to 30,000 feet? We haven't gotten that piece."
Despite the threat, only Boston's Logan International Airport has made security changes around its airport perimeter, officials said. Concerned that terrorists could infiltrate the clammers who work on the beaches around the airport, officials cleared the clammers with background checks and then issued them ID cards to wear while working near the airport.
Airport officials are responsible for security on their grounds, which can range from the 700 acres at New York's LaGuardia Airport to the 40,000 acres at Denver International. Beyond the airport fence, security becomes someone else's responsibility.
U.S airline representatives were briefed about a missile threat and other dangers during a meeting Nov. 5 at FAA headquarters in Washington. That meeting was followed a few days later by a public FBI warning that al-Qaeda terrorists were planning "spectacular attacks" on such targets as the airline industry and nuclear power plants.
Last August, the Defense Department awarded a contract to install sophisticated equipment in four Air Force C-17 cargo jets to thwart attacks from portable heat-seeking missiles. The cost amounts to almost $ 6 million per plane, but the cost to install anti-missile equipment on commercial jets is estimated to be about $ 2 million and $ 3 million per airplane.
Cash-strapped airlines are loath to pay that much. There are roughly 5,000 commercial aircraft owned by U.S. carriers and 10,000 more in the rest of the world. Airline representatives say they are waiting for federal guidance.
"We acknowledged a threat has existed for many, many years, along with a variety of other threats," said Michael Wascom, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade group. But he said it would be "improper" for the airlines to take unilateral action.
"We are not refusing to do anything and not ruling anything out. But they (the government) are in charge of defending all of us. They will let us know what we should do and what we shouldn't do," Wascom said. "Why do we have an Air Force?"
****
Contributing: Judy Keen
TEXT WITHIN GRAPHIC BEGINS HERE
Weapons 'lock on' to heat of aircrafts' engines
There are many variations of the shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile. The United States has the Stinger missile. The SA-7 "Grail" missile, originally produced by the Soviet Union, was used in November in a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli Boeing 757 jetliner in Kenya. The missile or its variations are found in 56 countries. At least 17 terrorist organizations have them.
A look at how the SA-7 system works:
1 - A shoulder-fired missile works a little bit like a point-and-shoot camera. The shooter aims at an aircraft and gives the missile a moment to "lock on" to the heat coming from the aircraft's engines.
2 - Once the shooter pulls the trigger, a small launch rocket propels the missile out of the launch tube. Then the missile's own engine ignites and propels it toward the target aircraft at speeds of more than 1,000 mph.
3 - A navigational system corrects the course of the missile as it closes in on the target. The missile seeks the infrared light produced from the aircraft's hot engines.
If the missile misses, it self-destructs after 14 to 17 seconds of flight.
SA-7 specifications
Missile weight: 10.4 pounds
System weight: 32.3 pounds
Capability
Time require to fire: 6 seconds
Range: Up to 3.4 miles
Altitude: Up to 15,000 feet
Cost: As low as $ 5,000 on the black market
Stinger: Produced in United States
Hong Nu (NH-5A): Produced in China
Mistral 2: First produced in France
SA-14 Gremlin: Produced in Russia
GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC, B/W, Karl Gelles, USA TODAY, Sources: HowStuffWorks.com, globalsecurity.org, Federation of American Scientists, Army-Technology.com, Chinese Defense Today
Copyright © 2003
