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| Bloomberg jets get anti-missile defense, poâ folks do without. |
| 2004-05-05 |
| Mayor Bloomberg Installing Anti-Missile Devises [sic] On His Private Jets (the misspelling of "devices" is theirs, not mine.) NEW YORK (CBS) Mayor Bloomberg is paying a high price to keep himself safe from terrorists. Heâs installing something on his private plane, usually reserved for presidents and high-ranking dignitaries. CBS 2âs Cheryl Fiandaca investigates. Investigates, does she? The whole tone here suggests that Bloomberg is doing something wrong, but there is no effort to spell out exactly what that is. Why not? Extreme wealth has many advantages, just ask Mayor Bloomberg. I lack first hand experience with those benefits, but I had sort of guessed that they existed. He doesnât travel on commercial airliners, only on his companyâs private jets. And because he can afford more than just luxury, CBS 2 Investigates has learned the mayorâs planes will also have very sophisticated, very expensive security systems installed to prevent a terrorist attack. Itâs the ultimate status symbol for the extremely rich. The 35 million-dollar Falcon long range jet. Billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg has 3 of them. But apparently luxury isnât enough. Sources say fear of terrorists armed with shoulder launch missiles is prompting Bloomberg Financial Corporation, the company that made the mayor a billionaire to, this August, install passive anti-missile systems on 2 of the companyâs jets which the mayor uses. The price tag? Two and a quarter million dollars a piece. âWhen a missile is launched at the plane, it redirects the guidence in the missile toward that simulation. Itâs taken off course and it doesnât hit anything and eventually it explodes in the air and thatâs the end of that,â explains aviation expert Charles Slepian. âWeâre going to see more and more of it as technology advances to get the cost out of the systems to make them more affordable for corporate aviation,â says Lance Fera, Vice President of Tag Aviation. Heat seeking shoulder launch missiles have been used successfully for years. They can be easily fired from nearly every vantage point when a plane is most vulnerable, during landing and take off. And thatâs not all, âIt can hit a plane waiting to depart, on the departure line. It can hit it in the fuel tank and destroy that aircraft and possibly the one in front of it and the one behind it, and create a chain reaction,â adds Slepian. The technology isnât new, the military has used passive anti-missile devises on itâs planes for years. The system is also on Air Force One. One devise [sic] now available to civilian aircraft is Baeâs Matador, which uses heat transmitting lamps to confuse the missile and deflect it off course. Experts say the errant missiles donât have enough explosive power to do any real damage, and rely on hitting a planeâs engine for maximum impact. But even this system isnât foolproof. And Slepian says it may not be worth it, âHereâs the problem, there are a number of false responses, often the guidance system is activated and there are no missiles and it has to be reset and thatâs expensive." So what can you do if youâre a commercial passenger and canât afford the luxury of a private jet and the safety of a system like a passive anti-missile devise? The answer, not much. Oh, the horror of not being a billionaire. The mere millionaires at CBS News are obviously jealous. A congressional research group claims over the past several years the FBI estimates indicate there have been 29 instances where civilian planes have been hit by shoulder fired missiles causing approximately 550 deaths. Congressional leaders say there are nearly three quarters of a million shoulder launch missiles available in the world, and some are in the hands of terrorist groups including al Qaeda. And with prices that start at $5,000 they arenât difficult to get, which is why companies that can afford this extra protection are buying it. This morning when NPR Marketplace mentioned the possibility of missile protection for airliners, their guy declared, "after all, Uncle Sam gave thousands of them to the Afghan rebels in the 1980s." He neglected to mention the much larger number of Soviet SA-7 and derived missiles that have been provided to terrorists all over the world before, during and since the Afghan conflict or that these, not the US Stingers, were involved in almost all missile attacks on commercial aircraft. Also neglected was the "shelf life" of the Stinger, which has long since expired. It is possible to overhaul one but this is a factory or at least depot-level job that the average jihadist is unlikely to be able to duplicate in the basement of the local mosque. Congressman Steve Israel says the U.S. government should buy it too. Israel is sponsoring legislation that would outfit all 6,800 commercial airliners with the system at a cost of more than 10 billion dollars. âThese corporate CEOâs understand that shoulder fired missiles are one of the most glaring vulnerabilities that we have in our air travel. If CEOâs on private jets are entitled to protection and President Bush and Vice President Cheney and members of congress are entitled to protection I believe that everybody that gets on a plane is entitled to the same protectionâ says Congressman Israel. Steve is onto something. In fact, given the hazards of commercial travel, I think everyone is entitled to a private jet. Pony up, taxpayers. Bloomberg Financial would not comment on itâs jets, and the mayors office declined to comment citing security issues. The idea of using passive anti-missile devices is gaining momentum. Less than two weeks ago, El Al, Israelâs national airline, announced it would begin testing a new anti-missile system this June. And last Thursday, Congressman Israelâs bill to install the equipment on commercial planes, moved through the house aviation subcommittee. |
| Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy |
| #8 Understand your frustration with Tecolote spills... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-05 9:26:40 PM |
| #7 Mr. Deth, I do believe that, even though the reporterette keeps saying passive countermeasures she really means active countermeasures, not flares. The Matador system she refers to is an outgrowth of the old HAVE CHARCOAL system developed by Sanders in the 80's. Systems of that ilk use either flashing lamps or mechanically gated IR sources to emit pulses of infrared energy intended to interact with the missile seeker and spoof its guidance system. Newer systems use lasers to apply the energy pulses, but the principle is still the same - make'em think you're where you're not. It's a viable approach but unfortunately the pulse patterns tend to be different for different missile seekers making the selection of the proper countermeasure to fool whatever missile that happens to be headed your way more difficult. Also, the pulse patterns used by the military tend to be classified and not releasable to non-DoD customers. So any system sold to other than DoD customers would have to have "generic" (read less effective) countermeasure programs rather than the first line stuff. Other than spontaneous declassification, I'm not sure how you get around that problem. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-05-05 8:49:57 PM |
| #6 RWV, most of the media spends most of time opinionating on subjects they nothing or next to nothing about. Television anchors are the worst, but print journalists are a close second. Not only does it drive me nuts, I consider it extremely corrosive to society. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-05-05 8:40:33 PM |
| #5 Frank G, that makes me feel better. The roads and bridges here are about the only things that work. Wish I could say the same for the rest of the infrastructure.. It's always a thrill to watch another sewer line break spill into Mission Bay. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-05-05 8:35:37 PM |
| #4 If Bloomburg wants to slap up to 96 launchable High Temperature flares in diferent locations on his Gates Falcons. Let him. The flares come in launchers of 12. Weight in at about 15 pounds apiece. And are usually launched in Salvo. Once! The problem is that most of the latest Shoulder launched SAM warheads are now both Heat Seeking and Radar Guided. Which is the main reason the Congressional Boondoggle to 'protect' Commercial Airliners is being held up. |
| Posted by: Jack Deth 2004-05-05 8:30:54 PM |
| #3 RWV - LOL - I do bridge/road engineering for said gubbmint |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-05 7:06:54 PM |
| #2 Who cares? He's got the money; it's his business. Too bad the reporter feels the need to make a jealous, snotty, envy-the-rich report about a rich guy who spends his own money on his own protection, but doesn't seem to have a problem with another rich guy who spends his money in a public effort to elect his own moonbat president. But I'm not surprised. It's CBS, after all. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-05-05 6:59:04 PM |
| #1 This is a pathetic article, devoid of information, and is typical of the caliber of "reporting" done by CBS these days. It's obvious that the reporter is totally clueless about MANPADS, SAMs, etc. and the systems that defend against them. She should have stopped with Bloomberg is installing defensive systems on his corporate aircraft instead of trying to turn this into a political hit piece on Bloomberg. (Living in San Diego, I have no opinion on Bloomberg. We have our own problems with incompetent local government) However, the MANPADS threat is real. Congress received a classified presentation on the subject after 9-11 that would make the blood of any air traveller run cold. The reporter's sources gave her a somewhat garbled version of the story. A short unclassifed summary of the situation is that there are 84 different countries that make shoulder launched surface to air missiles capable of shooting down an airliner. There are many, many (exact number is classified) of these things in circulation and it's just a matter of time until somebody pots an airliner. There are a number of systems available that can protect large multiengine aircraft from most types of MANPADS. The companies that make these systems would be more than pleased to take on the task of equipping the civil aviation fleet. It is a testament to the government's response to the terrorist threat that our skies have been as safe as they are. And if you want first class protection for your aircraft buy the Nemesis system from Northrop Grumman in Rolling Meadows. I would be willing to bet that they would cut you a good deal to equip 6,000 airliners. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-05-05 6:01:21 PM |