Shortly after two Russian Tupolev airliners crashed last week, possibly downed by terrorist bombs, the US unveiled a plan to thwart another possible threat to civil aircraft.
On 25 August the Department of Homeland Security announced it has awarded two $45 million contracts to test a plane-mounted computer vision system that can spot a missile when it is launched, track it and then blind it with a powerful laser. The system was originally designed for mounting on military aircraft.
Officials are worried about the threat posed by shoulder-launched missiles such as the American Stinger and Russian SA-7b, which are small,…
