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FedEx Asks Permission to Install Anti-Missile Lasers on Its Cargo Jet:
FedEx has asked the US Federal Aviation Administration if it could install anti-missile lasers on cargo jets, according to a request filed earlier this month. The FAA request is set to be published on the public register next week.
Heat-seeking missiles detect and target heat from cargo jet engines, and because these planes are less maneuverable that a fighter jet, they're hard to shake off. Gizmodo reports that anti-missile lasers act like a distraction, shining an infrared laser directly at the missile to disrupt its ability to track a heat signature.
Although it may seem out of left field, supply chain issues have been causing food and product shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Last year, hackers even deployed ransomware attacks on a major agricultural services provider. With those cyberpunk logistics challenges in mind, FedEx's application makes a little more sense.
"In recent years, in several incidents abroad, civilian aircraft were fired upon by man-portable air defense systems," the application letter reads.
[...] When FedEx first tested similar equipment back in 2008, CBS reported the lasers were eye-safe. In addition, Gizmodo reports that the current application includes new features, reporting and important safety information for airline crew. The lasers really shouldn't pose a problem to civilians on the ground, then, and it makes us wonder — should all passenger planes have this tech?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 19 2022, @01:04AM (4 children)
Wouldn't the simpler countermeasure be 1 more missile than the plane has lasers?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 19 2022, @05:34AM (3 children)
The laser works by blinding the missile, so one laser can kill multiple missiles.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday January 19 2022, @07:30AM (2 children)
Can't you just equip the missiles with laser safety glasses?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 19 2022, @01:18PM (1 child)
It's an interesting problem. I don't know how heat seekers work other than they use "IR" detectors ("IR" is a very overloaded term that could be LWIR or MWIR - I'm assuming we're not talking SWIR), but if they are "heat seeking" then they are most likely LWIR sensors ("thermal IR", since those sensors are cheap and easy to get). If you put laser safety goggles on them, you are putting filters on that dramatically knock down the signal in certain wavelengths. but that means you are also knocking down the signal you're trying to observe. If you know what the laser wavelength is, you could put a notch filter that is tuned for that wavelength, but that doesn't help if you are using multiple lasers. Things like custom notch filters are not necessarily cheap either. You could certainly come up with a way to make a sophisticated system to defeat whatever defensive system they are using, but they're going after the cheap-and-easy stuff you can get on the black market here. What I find interesting is whether these laser systems work better than the old-school method of firing magnesium flares out the side, or if they are meant to operate in parallel. Or, perhaps, it isn't common or practical for these cargo planes to always shoot flares out when they take off and they're really addressing the threat of a shoulder-mounted missile launcher used in a non-combat zone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 19 2022, @02:23PM
Effectiveness depends on the missile, but there are other factors.
A major one is that magnesium flares are a major fire hazard both for the aircraft itself and when used close to the ground. Decoy flares contain perchlorate based oxidizer, which is toxic. This makes maintenance more expensive and riskier. Solid state lasers only need to be powered down to be safe to handle.
Flares can also only be used once, so an attacker only needs to set the system off shortly before the actual attack to be successful. A laser can fire as many times as needed.
There is also the cost of retrofitting and recertifying the aircraft. A laser can be installed in the tail cone or co-mounted with an engine. Flare droppers are usually placed in the underside of the wings, which is much more involved.