While hunting for Virtual cargo airlines that use the MD11 I came across the realworld FEDEX site. It looks like they have equiped a few of there MD11 aircaft with a anti missile system through a deal with Northrop Grumman.It seems a little extreme but I guess since 9/11 not much shocks me nowadays, so does anyone know if other airlines are doing this? and are we gonna have big fat anti missile pods hanging of our shiny new MD11's?Rob

>While hunting for Virtual cargo airlines that use the MD11 I>came across the realworld FEDEX site. It looks like they have>equiped a few of there MD11 aircaft with a anti missile system>through a deal with Northrop Grumman.>>It seems a little extreme but I guess since 9/11 not much>shocks me nowadays, so does anyone know if other airlines are>doing this? and are we gonna have big fat anti missile pods>hanging of our shiny new MD11's?>>Rob Where did you get this idea?- Jake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx scroll down to Research. http://www.es.northropgrumman.com/counterm...llery/faa2.html

After the DHL incident in Baghdad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Baghdad_DHL_attempted_shootdown_incident), I believe there was an discussion whether or not to equip passenger jets with an anti-missile system. grNiels

Lufthansa have a similar system. They open the emergency exits and the stewardesses throw their bread rolls at any approaching baddies. They are so hard, they can puncture a steel fuselage no problem:-)

There will not be any missile pods lol...

I work for American Airlines and I know we are testing an anti missle system on some our 767s. I don't know any other specifics though. El Al has had these systems for some time now.

Good point about El Al I forgot about them... maybe airlines should start thinking about ejector seats and perhaps super low airfares for passengers willing to take the tail gunner seat??Rob

>There will not be any missile pods lol...The stale bread buns sound a good idea though, feared the world over. I can just see all those terrorists with broken teeth...... lolReider

There are detection systems on civilian aircraft, not at liberty to say who, that might be mislabeled "anti-missile" but are in fact warning systems. These will appear as small blisters housing infrared detectors.The question becomes now what do you do if there's something coming at you? If the detection system is married to a countermeasures system that can jam or deploy flares or chaff (depending on threat) then this might be called the anti-missle system. However, these systems are usually only found on military operated aircraft. But if you are a civilian cargo hauler, there's going to be unusual skills and knowledge required to operate and maintain these systems.Maybe there are bun-ejection tubes located in the aft fuselage?

I am by no means an authority on this but my understanding of the El Al system is that it detects the missile and then points a lazer (I think) at the seeker head to confuse the missle. I believe it is designed for heat seeking missiles only but I am not positive.