http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/ Engadget Comments for MD-10 departs LAX with Northrop Grumman's Guardian anti-missile system http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/
Possible but not very likely. I mean a lot of things are *possible* for terrorists to do, but for a variety of reasons they don't happen.

Major airport perimeters that are actually accessible are generally actually pretty well guarded, either by actual *guards* or by the public. For example, I live just outside NYC, and I can tell you that you'd never be able to just sit outside of JFK or LGA dumping mortars into the airport. The only accessible portions of the airport perimeters that aren't unguarded or otherwise protected are right next to major roadways. (LGA also has a big wall around most of it, which makes it impossible to see inside.) And with the police being so paranoid that they chase off even amateur aviation photographers immediately, there wouldn't even be time for a terrorist to set up, much less hit anything through trial and error.

The reason why SAMs are a concern is that while you can lock down an airport pretty good, terrorists don't actually need to be at the airport. They can be in a hidden backyard in a nearby neighborhood. Or in an abandoned building. Or whatever. And this has already happened in several areas around the world - airliners *have* been shot at with SAMs, both passenger and freight.

Maybe there's some airport somewhere in the United States that has an accessible perimeter, an unguarded perimeter not near any public areas, and that hosts airliners large enough for terrorists to feel it's worthwhile trying to blow one up. But if such an airport does exist, terrorists are gonna have a hard time figuring out which one it is. And I guarantee it's none of the airports in the major cities they'd like to hit. I mean are terrorists really gonna trek out to Minneapolis and try to blend in with the population there, then strike a blow in a city most of their countrymen back home have never heard of? I'm not saying smaller cities shouldn't worry - and in most cases I'm sure they do take precautions - but I think an attack in a place like that would be really unlikely even if it wasn't so hard to pull off.

Anyway, a SAM attack is a much bigger concern.
]]>Jan 18th 2007 9:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/Jan 18th 2007 7:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/Jan 18th 2007 8:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/Jan 18th 2007 9:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/Jan 18th 2007 5:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=683390&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5]]>Jan 18th 2007 10:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/Jan 18th 2007 12:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/Jan 18th 2007 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/md-10-departs-lax-with-northrop-grummans-guardian-anti-missile/
There are ground ones being conceptualized as well...which I hope is the chosen method...and not a laser mounted in every commercial airliner.]]>Jan 18th 2007 9:23PM