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Flying the Unfriendly Skies: The Threat to Commercial Aircraft

POLICY FORUM
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
12:00 pm

Featuring Alvin Schnurr, Northrop Grumman; David Forbes, BoydForbes Security; and Charles Peña, Cato Instutite.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001


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In November 2002, an Israeli charter jet was shot at by a shoulder-fired missile—also known as MANPADS or man-portable air defense system. A year later, a shoulder-fired missile hit a DHL cargo plane at Baghdad International Airport. And last month in Baghdad, a C-5 military transport carrying 63 people was hit by a shoulder-fired missile. Fortunately, in all three cases the aircraft were not downed and there were no casualties. But these events have raised the possibility of terrorists using such weapons against U.S. commercial jets. With all the attention to airline security to prevent another 9/11-style terrorist attack, is the United States paying enough attention to the threat of shoulder-fired missiles being used against aircraft? What are the nature and extent of the threat? What countermeasures can be used to defend against the threat? How much would countermeasures cost? Who should pay for them?

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