Washington – It could be 20 years before every U.S. passenger airplane is outfitted with a system to protect it from small portable missiles, according to a government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
Under a test program, BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman developed laser-based systems over the past two years that still don’t meet the reliability standards set by the Homeland Security Department, the report said.
“The prototype units are capable of partially meeting the Department of Homeland Security performance requirements,” the report said.
The possibility that shoulder-fired missiles could take down commercial airliners in the United States is considered real.
The FBI arrested two men in Albany, N.Y., as they were trying to buy some nearly two years ago.
