USA TODAY August 13, 2003
Threat is 'no longer theoretical'
By Fred Bayles
Before he attended a closed-door briefing in March, Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, admits he had doubted whether shoulder-held missiles posed a serious threat to commercial passenger jets.
What he heard changed his mind. "When I came out, I was a believer," says Mica, a Republican from Florida.
The missiles and their launchers, which are about the size of a golf bag, are easy to hide and easy to use. And they have proved to be deadly.
They were a cause for concern in Congress and among the nation's federal security agencies before Tuesday's arrest of a suspected international arms dealer who allegedly thought he was selling one to terrorists to use against a jet in the USA.
After two overseas missile attacks against passenger jets last year, FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials visited 82 of the nation's largest airports this spring to assess how vulnerable they were to an attack with the missiles, which are called Man Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADS. As a result, airports in cities including Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington stepped up security patrols around their perimeters. The Coast Guard began surveillance on shorelines adjacent to airports.
Mica and several other members of Congress have called for a national program to install countermeasure equipment on airliners that could foil a missile attack. Several defensive systems used by military aircraft are undergoing certification by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says Tuesday's arrests should add urgency to the program. "The threat facing commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles here in the United States is no longer theoretical," he says.
The missiles, which weigh 35 to 70 pounds, can be set up and launched in a matter of seconds with minimal training. A missile uses infrared sensors to track the heat from a jet's engines and chase its target at supersonic speeds. Depending on the type, the missiles can hit targets at altitudes as high as 18,000 feet and as far away as 5 miles.
An estimated 700,000 MANPADS have been produced over the past three decades. The U.S. model, the Stinger, is considered the most sophisticated and was credited with aiding Afghan rebels in their defeat of Soviet forces in the 1990s. Other models are produced by Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China.
U.S. intelligence agencies have reported that 27 terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, have the weapons.
MANPADS have been used in 35 attempts against civilian aircraft in Africa, Asia, Afghanistan and Central America during the past 30 years; 24 planes were shot down, killing more than 500 people. All but one were propeller airplanes.
The only jet, a Congo Airlines Boeing 727, was shot down in 1998, by rebels in Congo. Forty people were killed.
In May 2002, al-Qaeda terrorists using a Russian-made, SA-7 Strela missile, failed in an attempt to shoot down a U.S. military jet taking off from a base in Saudi Arabia. In November, terrorists fired a pair of SA-7s at an Israeli charter jet taking off from Mombasa, Kenya. The 30-year-old missiles also missed.
The Associated Press reported that the missile obtained by the FBI in Tuesday's arrest was a more sophisticated Russian missile, the SA-18 Igla. The newer SA-18 can be fired head-on at a target, rather than only from behind as with the SA-7. The guidance system is more advanced and is designed to foil some countermeasures.
Chechen rebels have used the Igla against Russian military aircraft. Last week, an Igla shot down a Russian helicopter and killed three crewmembers.
Although no American commercial aircraft has ever been attacked by a MANPADS, the threat has persuaded members of Congress to support legislation to require defensive countermeasures on commercial airliners.
The technology exists for military aircraft, and Israel has installed such devices on about 35 El Al jetliners. The countermeasure devices use automatic sensors that can track missiles and fire laser pulses to confuse the missiles' heat-seeking trackers.
Schumer was co-sponsor of legislation that would require more than 5,000 airline planes be retrofitted with equipment at a cost of $ 1 million to $ 3 million each.
"The White House ought to be providing Homeland Security with the money it needs to begin protecting civilian aircraft with jamming devices immediately, before it's too late," Schumer says.
Mica says that in the meantime, security agencies need to continue to track arms dealers and terrorist groups to prevent the weapons from making it into the USA.
"We're on the right course, but we can't afford to lose a minute," he says.
GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC, B/W, Karl Gelles, USA TODAY, Sources: HowStuffWorks.com, globalsecurity.org, Federation of American Scientists, Army-Technology.com Chinese Defense Today, Periscope, Associated Press (ILLUSTRATION); PHOTO, B/W, 1999 photo by Lt. Karl Rauch, U.S. Navy; Security in Boston: A police boat patrols Boston Harbor as a jet taxis at Logan Airport in March.<>An F/A-18C Hornet releases decoy flares during a training exercise.
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