Northrop Grumman says its Nemesis Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) system uses laser beams to jam shoulder-fired surface-to-air-missiles (SAMs) that may pose a threat to commercial airlines.

The system weighs about 350 pounds (158 kilograms) and would be installed in the bottom of the aircraft where the fuselage (main body) begins to taper off towards the tail.

"It will protect you from all missiles in the hands of terrorists," Larry O'Neil, director of systems and technology at Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems, told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of this week's 8th Dubai air show.

He said flares, which have long been used by military aircraft to foil infrared-guided SAMs, cannot fool newer missile models, which have more sophisticated sensors.

As for older missile-jamming systems, O'Neil said they "will only protect from older missiles."

He said that a civil aircraft equipped with Northrop's system can "fly in and out of Baghdad International Airport at low altitude without fear of a missile attack."

A civil aircraft belonging to international express courier DHL made an emergency landing in Baghdad on November 22 after being hit by a surface-to-air missile in the first successful strike on a plane since May.

Nobody was injured in the attack, but it prompted both DHL and Jordanian carrier Royal Wings, the only airline to offer civilian passenger flights into Baghdad, to suspend their services.

The missile threat has prevented the full reopening of Baghdad airport despite huge interest from international carriers including British Airways, the Netherlands' KLM and Scandinavian firm SAS, as well as regional airlines.

O'Neil said both British Airways and Singapore Airlines are looking at Northrop's system and that the company has made a proposal to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has launched a two-year 100 million-dollar program to develop and test a prototype missile defense system.

He said leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus is also looking into the system, which he says would cost about one million dollars, or "less than one percent of the cost of an aircraft."

He said the system has been installed on military aircraft in Britain, Australia and the United States and on airplanes flying heads of states and top business executives, but refused to give any names.

The main competitor to Northrop's Nemesis DIRCM is an Israeli system that has gained momentum after the November 19, 2002 attempted shooting of a Boeing 767 operated by Arkia Israeli Airlines as it was leaving an airport in Mombasa, Kenya.

The attack, which caused no injuries, involved two shoulder-fired SA-7 Russian missiles similar to the ones used in the attack on DHL in Baghdad. It was blamed on the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The SA-7 is designed to home in on a heat source on a heat source on an aircraft, typically the engine exhaust plume.

O'Neil said the Israeli anti-missile system which is infrared-based was "not viable" and that Israel has been "making wild claims about it."

But Darren Lake, a London-based defense journalist, said that Northrop's claims of having the best anti-missile system may hinge more on the fact that "it is unlikely that terrorists will have the latest SAMs."

Unclassified estimates of the worldwide shoulder-fired SAMs inventory vary widely, but published estimates on the number of missiles held in international military arsenals range from 350,000 to 500,000, according to a US Congress report published on November 3.

The report concludes that "no single solution exists to mitigate," the threat of missiles to civilian aircraft.

WAR.WIRE