WASHINGTON — A New York congressman is reintroducing legislation to install anti-missile technologies on U.S. commercial airliners, prompted by the Ukraine air disaster and Hamas rockets in the Gaza crisis.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-Long Island) on Tuesday confirmed his plans to dust off and recraft a 2003 proposal he made with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to require the Defense Department to equip passenger planes with protections against missiles.
The original legislation, the Commercial Airline Missile Defense Act, followed high-profile air tragedies and the 9/11 attacks.
The anti-missile systems were considered too expensive, however, and the legislation was not enacted, but the proposal prompted greater government exploration of such technologies for commercial use.
The new proposal will likely call for anti-missile technology only for planes flying in dangerous, mostly foreign, territory, Israel said.
Its aim will be to “take a first step toward protecting airline passengers from shoulder-fired missiles,” if not the more powerful surface-to-air missiles suspected in the Ukraine crash, he said.
“With recent world events, we’re once again reminded that missiles could pose a real danger to civilian aircraft,” Israel added.
There is an ongoing government research program, named “Project Chloe,” grown out of concern about smaller, shoulder-launched missile systems that use infrared homing systems.
The program is named after the character Chloe O’Brien, played by actress-comic Mary Lynn Rajskud, on “24,” the Fox series about a fictional counter-terrorism unit and a favorite show of then Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff.
