The "Flight Guard" protection suit for civilian aircraft against shoulder-fired surface to air missiles will be installed on El Al (TASE:ELAL) planes during June, as part of a Israel Civil Aviation Administration (ICAA) test, Minister of Transport Avigdor Lieberman said today.
When the system identifies an incoming missile, it automatically deploys decoys to divert it.
Lieberman has budgeted an additional NIS 8 million to complete Flight Guard's development and install the first systems. The Ministry of Transport has budgeted over NIS 13 million to the program to date. Israel Aircraft Industries and Israel Military Industries developed Flight Guard at a cost of tens of millions of shekels.
Lieberman left last night for a working visit to the US. He will meet Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta and other officials, in order to raise awareness about the need to protect civilian passenger aircraft.
Lieberman and Mineta will also discuss joint US-Israeli advanced electro-optical defense anti-missile systems.
Lieberman said the Ministry of Transport planned to equip all Israeli civilian aircraft with the new system.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on April 22, 2004