Slashdot Mirror
Anti-Missile Technology To Be Tested on Commercial Jets
Hugh Pickens writes "As many as three American Airlines passenger jets will be outfitted this spring with laser technology intended to protect planes from missile attacks. The tests, which could involve more than 1,000 flights, will determine how the technology holds up under the rigors of flight. The technology is intended to stop attacks by detecting heat from missiles, then responding in a fraction of a second by firing laser beams to jam the missiles' guidance systems. A Rand study in 2005 estimated it would cost about $11 billion to protect every US airliner from shoulder-fired missiles. Over 20 years, the cost to develop, procure and operate anti-missile systems could hit $40 billion."
...will the passengers on these airlines be told that SAMs will be launched at them in order to test the anti-missile defences?
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Why do all of you people detracting from this hate freedom? Do you want the terrorists to win?
Unless some defence contractor can make $40 billion out of this, the terrorists have already won.
Thank you for one of the funniest mental images I've yet gotten from a slashdot post. Particularly since my imagination expanded on the scenario and had sheep after sheep with dynamite trapped to them throwing themselves at a tractor which kept zapping them with a laser. Would that I had Flash animation abilities. *sigh*
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?