Guardian system protects commercial flights from terrorist missile threats

Being shot out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile might not be at the forefront of your mind when traveling on a commercial airliner, but with shoulder-mounted, infra-red anti-aircraft rockets selling for as little as US$5000 in trouble spots around the world, it's perhaps surprising that it's only happened a few dozen times in recent years. Once launched, such a missile travels at twice the speed of sound towards its target, so countermeasures must be automatic and instant - which brings us to Northrop Grumman's GUARDIAN system. This anonymous-looking pod provides 360-degree laser-based missile defense for commercial airliners for a total cost of around a dollar per passenger over the aircraft's service life.

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