LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- A commercial airliner took off from Los Angeles Tuesday carrying a test version of a defensive system against shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles.
Northrop Grumman designed the Guardian missile-defense system for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a means of fending off rockets such as the Stinger fired by terrorists.
Guardian is a laser-based system that detects missile launches and automatically intercepts them with a laser that disrupts the weapon guidance system and sends it off course. The system is effective against airliners flying at low altitudes while landing or taking off.
Northrop has been quietly testing Guardian for more than a year in a commercial aviation environment. Engineers have used electronic simulations of missiles to trigger the Guardian aboard Boeing 747 and MD-10 and MD-11 jets. In each run-through, the system indeed detected the launch and zeroed in on it with the laser, which is invisible to the naked eye.
Passengers probably didn't even notice the Guardian unit on the underside of the MD-10 that took off from LAX Tuesday morning, although their interest might have been piqued by the gaggle of television crews poking around their plane on the tarmac.
They won't have to worry about scientists taking pot shots at them with Stingers, either. The operational testing is aimed primarily at demonstrating the capability of the system to undergo the rigors of continuous commercial air service.
"For the first time, we will be able to collect valuable logistics data while operating Guardian on aircraft in routine commercial service," said Northrop Vice President Robert DelBoca.
