Russian politician, Oleg Tsarev proposed that Russian civil aircraft should be equipped with anti-missile systems. He suggested that this could allow the opening of airports in the south of Russia before the end of the “special operation”.
To date, the aircraft of only one airline equipped with anti-missile defense systems is Israel’s El Al, which has been installing missile defense systems on its airliners since 2004. These aircraft use the C-MUSIC system from the Israeli company Elbit Systems. In addition, there are anti-missile systems on several FedEx aircraft.
Russia has an on-board defense complex “President-S”, manufactured by Rostec, more precisely Rostec holding “Radioelectronic Technologies” (KRET). The system was developed for military helicopters and is also installed on military transport aircraft, for example, the IL-76. The functionality of the BKO allows you to expand the range of applications of the complex in aviation. It was tested just with the “Needle”, and also protects against similar MANPADS like the “Stinger”.
The principle of operation of both Israeli, American, and Russian complexes is identical – it is aimed at “blinding” the optical homing heads of missiles using a laser; including several flying from different directions. The missiles do not hit the target. Of course, these systems are effective only if aircraft are so equipped. This creates difficulties in implementing the idea in Russia, for example, only 38 aircraft are in the El Al fleet, unlike the Russian airline fleet which has more than 1,000 aircraft.
