By Calvin Biesecker
BAE Systems last Friday said it has received a $29 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to install its JETEYE aircraft missile defense system on three 767-200 passenger aircraft operated by American Airlines [AMR] to test the suitability of the system for routine daily flight operations.
Testing of the Counter-Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) will begin this spring and run through the end of the year, during which time the JETEYE systems will log 7,000 hours of flight time. The system will be used aboard aircraft flying between New York and Los Angeles and possibly San Francisco.
The congressionally-mandated tests will give DHS, BAE Systems, the airline industry, Congress and other government decisionmakers the best opportunity yet to understand the actual impact of installing a Counter-MANPADS system on routine passenger flight operations. American Airlines will be responsible for maintaining and repairing JETEYE with BAE playing a support role.
“American Airlines is pleased to continue its partnership with BAE System and is fully committed to supporting and participating in the passenger airline evaluation phase of the DHS Counter-MANPADS program,” Craig Barton, managing director of American Airlines, said in a statement. “We believe this is a key step toward understanding the true impact of the technology and operational models on the airline industry.”
Each JETEYE system consists of a missile warning system that includes four sensors, a gimballed laser tracker and pointer for disabling the guidance system of an oncoming missile, and associated electronics and other related equipment. The sensors and laser components are located on the underside of an aircraft to detect and defeat ground-launched missiles. The main concerns of airlines include the impact of Counter-MANPADS on fuel consumption due to increase drag and weight–each complete JETEYE system weighs 494 pounds– how much and what kind of maintenance the systems will require.
The new round of tests are part of the ongoing Phase III of the DHS Counter-MANPADS program, which was begun in 2003. Both United Kingdom-based BAE and Northrop Grumman [NOC] have been participating in the project with their respective directed infrared countermeasures. The respective systems are based on versions each company originally developed and supplied to protect military aircraft from ground-fired missile systems.
Northrop Grumman’s Guardian Counter-MANPADS wasn’t selected for the upcoming passenger flight tests. The company will be wrapping up its testing aboard MD-10 cargo aircraft operated by FedEx Corp. [FDX] later this winter. BAE also tested JETEYE on cargo planes, a 767 aircraft operated by ABX Air, Inc. Those tests recently ended.
Winning the opportunity to test JETEYE on commercial passenger flights is important because it represents the “acid test of suitability” for the system for everyday use, Burt Keirstead, director of commercial aircraft programs for BAE, told Defense Daily on Friday. Keirstead noted that ongoing development work BAE has done to improve the performance of the missile warning and defeat system for Army aircraft has enabled the company to improve the reliability of JETEYE for commercial operations.
What happens once Phase III of the program ends is anybody’s guess. DHS will deliver its analysis of the program and test results to Congress. Congress and or possibly the White House may decide that some or all commercial wide body aircraft operating in the United States must be equipped with a Counter-MANPADS system to defeat the potential threat from shoulder-fired missile systems that lock onto the engine heat of an aircraft. If so, who pays for the systems and their maintenance would be some of the major issues that would have to be tackled before any decision is final.
The $29 million that BAE is receiving under the new contract will cover the purchase and installation of the JETEYE systems for the testing. It will also allow for some development work that BAE is doing to download data from the system while the aircraft are flying, Keirstead said.