WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Homeland Security Department is preparing to test drones designed to deter ground-fired missiles from striking passenger planes.
Homeland Security and the U.S. military plan to test the drones, which are designed to fly 65,000 feet above airports, at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station outside Washington this summer, USA Today reported Friday.
Kerry Wilson, a deputy administrator of Homeland Security's anti-missile program, said the drones will be outfitted with missile warning systems that identify the ultraviolet plume from a missile's rocket booster. Anti-missile lasers will then be fired from the drone or a ground location to blind the missile and send it off-course.
The system, named "Project Chloe" after a character on FOX TV drama "24" -- reputedly Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's favorite show -- was developed after tests of plane-mounted, anti-missile lasers concluded the equipment was unreliable in the past 300 hours to 400 hours of use.
