Guardian is a system deigned to safeguard a plane from any shoulder-fired missile fired towards it. Northrop Grumman’s Guardian is an anti-missile system that is designed to detect a missile launch and then direct a laser to the seeker system on the head of the missile and disrupt its guidance signals. The laser is not visible and is eye-safe. The ultimate goal of designing such a system is to protect passenger airliners from the terrorist attacks. The Guardian system appears as a pod with eye-like features attached to the belly of the FedEx MD-10, a freight version of what was originally the three-engine widebody DC-10 airliner.
Though the system has succeeded in various teats conducted on its feasibility, still there are a number of problems that limit its use. The major problem that analysts listed was the high maintenance cost of $365 per flight that will bother all the airlines to use this system. The second major problem is concerning the performance of the system when used for several hours of flight.
The DHS has already assigned a sum of $45 million to the company to improve the system and reduce the maintenance cost so that it may be possible to install this system in the all the 6,800 commercial U.S. airliners.
During the current test phase, which concludes in March 2008, nine MD-10s equipped with the Guardian system will be in commercial service.
Via: newsvine
