Airport protection

today announced a new, affordable ground-based airport protection system that uses high power microwave technology to protect commercial aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles.

Known as Vigilant Eagle, the company said in a statement that the airfield-based directed electromagnetic energy system protects the flying public against the threat of surface-to-air missiles including MANPADS (Manportable Air Defence System).

"Raytheon is in the process of rolling out its Vigilant Eagle technology that defeats the most important classes of man-portable missiles in seconds without any alteration to or involvement by the aircraft using the airport," said Mike Booen, vice president of Directed Energy Weapons at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona.

"Not only has our Vigilant Eagle system been proven effective, but it looks to be at least 10 times less costly than the current aircraft-based countermeasure programs now in development. A prototype system has been field tested and proven effective against important MANPADS threats. Perhaps most importantly, it can be made ready for trial installations in the US or at Baghdad International Airport years ahead of current development programs."