By Dave Ahearn
LINTHICUM, Md.—Northrop Grumman [NOC] yesterday wrapped up a multi-year demonstration program in which it installed a laser system on airliners to defeat shoulder-mounted man-portable weapons that terrorists might fire at the civilian planes.
The end of the Northrop Grumman portion of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-funded Phase III program ($105 million for Northrop Grumman, and a like amount for rival BAE Systems product, JetEye) came as technicians unbolted a Northrop Guardian counter-Manpads system from the underbelly of a FedEx [FDX] cargo plane, an MD-10 (made by McDonnell Douglas, which is now part of Boeing [BA]).
As civilian airliners roared aloft from an adjacent runway at Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Northrop Grumman officials explained to defense journalists that they would hope the U.S. civilian airline industry will recognize that terrorists see such airliners as prime targets.
The hope is that airlines will order the Northrop Grumman Guardian counter-Manpads system, which the company estimates could be purchased, installed on planes, operated for a 20-year lifespan, and disposed of at a total cost of $1 per passenger, or less than $1 million per plane. That $1 per passenger outlay, according to Northrop Grumman, is about what it costs an airline to give one passenger a soft drink and mini-bag of peanuts.
That would amount to at most a total $4 billion to outfit the entire U.S. civilian airliner fleet, far less than figures such as $30 billion quoted by some critics of placing counter-Manpads systems on each plane. Some airlines have protested that they can’t afford to buy the system and mount it on each airliner, because airlines already are strapped for cash thanks to soaring fuel prices.
And actually, according to Northrop Grumman, the total cost would be less than $4 billion, because many airliners at any point in time are in hangars for maintenance work. The Guardian system, contained in a seven-foot-long pod that fits on the underside of a plane, can be switched from one plane to another, so 4,000 units wouldn’t be required. The Guardian system can be installed during a routine aircraft maintenance overhaul.
An alternative approach would place laser counter-Manpads systems on the ground at each airport. Raytheon [RTN] makes such a system, Vigilant Eagle. DHS in 2006 gave Raytheon a $4.1 million contract to test its system, with a potential to raise that by another $1.2 million. Raytheon says its system could be used at 25 of the largest airports for $2 billion total.
But Jack Pledger, director of marketing and business development with Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems defensive systems division, said such a ground-based unit must guard an area of about 300 square miles for each runway at an airport.
In contrast, the Guardian system, mounted on each aircraft, is always with the plane to provide protection everywhere, not just at airports.
James Pitts, Northrop Grumman corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, said the Guardian system, with its missile-killing laser, is a variant of a military aircraft protection system with years of service. Also, Guardian is FAA certified for use on civilian passenger and cargo aircraft.
The Guardian unit weighs only 500 pounds and uses only 1,800 watts of electric power, about the same as a hair dryer, according to the briefers.
Pledger said some 27 terrorist organizations have Manpads.
During the multi-year program testing Guardian on aircraft such as the FedEx plane, Pledger said Guardian systems flew thousands of hours.
But now, he said, “the program is coming to a conclusion,” adding that “the future is unknown.”
One possibility, Pitts said, is that the Department of Defense (DoD) might be asked to fund placement of Guardian units on civilian aircraft that that DoD leases for logistics, personnel transport and other missions.
Such planes include airliners such as the Boeing 737 and 747 jumbo jet, and the Airbus A330, he said.
Meanwhile, DHS will submit a final report to Congress on how Guardian and JetEye performed during the multi-year test with them installed on civilian aircraft.