FedEx has asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission to equip one of its cargo planes with an anti-missile laser system.
In a public notice reported by NBC News, the mailing and transportation services company said it wanted to install the advanced defensive weapon on an Airbus A321-200 that directed infrared laser energy toward an incoming missile to interrupt its heat-seeking capabilities.
Its motivation for the request was “several incidents” in recent years in which man-portable air defence systems fired upon civilian aircraft.
That has led to companies designing and adapting systems like a laser-based missile-defence system for installation on civilian aircraft.
FedEx acknowledged that infrared laser energy could pose a hazard to people on board the plane, in other aircraft, or on the ground, which is why it had approached the FAA with a set of conditions to mitigate these dangers.
The conditions include a design that would prevent the system from inadvertently operating on the ground and providing safety markings, instructions, and other information to people who might have to interact with the system.
NBC News noted that FedEx does not have an AirBus A321-200 in its fleet yet, so the system is destined for one of its new planes.
The most significant incidents in recent history in which civilian airplanes were hit by missiles occurred in July 2014 and January 2020.
In the first instance, 283 passengers and 15 crew members died when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile fired from an area of the Ukraine which had been under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
That was only a few months after the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which revolves around the status of Crimea and parts of the Donbas.
In the second incident, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was downed by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, five days after the US assassinated IRGC Major General Qasem Soleimani.
Iran claimed the airplane was mistaken for a hostile target when it turned towards a “sensitive site” of the IRGC.
But the US has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the flight be shot down.
Tension has been escalating between Russia and Ukraine in recent months, with fears from the West that Putin is planning a full-scale invasion of the Ukraine.
According to the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Putin views Ukraine’s tightening military, political, and economic relationships with the West as a threat to Russia.
The Kremlin has massed troops and equipment along the Russia-Ukraine border, and is suspected to be behind a cyberattack on the Ukrainian government.
It was unconfirmed whether FedEx’s request was in any way related to these developments, however.
Main Image: Air Cargo News
