Security boost for SIA, SilkAir: Anti-missile defences for planes in 2 years
DSTA working on device to protect commercial planes from missiles
The Sunday Times, Page 7 - Sunday, February 15, 2004
By Tracy Quek
In two years, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir planes could be fitted with made-in-Singapore devices to protect them from surface-to-air missiles.
Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA), the national authority on military procurements, is currently working on developing such a device.
Dr Tan, who is also Coordinating Minister for Security and Defence, was speaking to reporters after launching this year's two-day Total Defence exhibition in Suntec City yesterday.
Singapore's military aircraft have anti-missile defences but not commercial planes, he said.
When the devices are available, the Ministry of Transport will be responsible for ensuring that SIA and SilkAir planes are fitted with them.
'How the cost is to be shared between the Government and the airlines is something to be discussed between the ministry and the airlines,' he said.
The vulnerability of commercial aircraft hit home last November when a DHL cargo jet was hit by what was believed to be a shoulder-fired missile near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq.
Last month, the United States Department of Homeland Security said it had commissioned research into how to adapt the anti-missile defence systems of military planes for use on civilian aircraft.
Dr Tan also voiced his concern about the climb in pirate attacks on ships passing through the Straits of Malacca and the waters around Singapore.
More than half of the world's oil shipments pass through the Straits, he said, and half the world's pirate attacks occur in the waters around Singapore.
So security of passage in these waters is vital if 'we want to avoid destruction to world economic activity', he said.
Singapore cannot do it alone, he added. Comprehensive measures have to be worked out on an international scale.
He said: 'We need to have the cooperation of many countries. It's an issue that is worrying everyone.'
http://www.dsta.gov.sg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3226&Itemid=401
This is old news back in 2004...anyone seen any weird looking things on your SIA and Silk Air planes while travelling overseas lately?
