UAVs join fight against shoulder-fired rockets

May 10, 2007

The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) hopes to use high-altitude, long-endurance UAVs to protect commercial aircraft from attacks during takeoffs and landings at major U.S. airports.

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The Dept. of Homeland Security will use a UAV like this Predator B from General Atomics to test technology for protecting commercial aircraft from shoulder-launched missiles.

A technical demonstration is expected sometime next year.

DHS plans to carry out a sensor risk-reduction trial with either an MQ-9 Predator B from General Atomics or RQ-4 Global Hawk from Northrop Grumman, by October. The technical assessment program, designated Project Chloe, follows U.S. Congressional directives to explore ways of protecting commercial aircraft from missile attacks.

The project has a current budget of $12.7 million.