Northrop to sell laser shield 'bubble' for airports

[SUBMAN1]

Wondered when defense lasers would start to show up.

-S



http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/12/news...northrop.reut/

Northrop to sell laser shield 'bubble' for airports


Weapons maker forecasts a big market for system to safeguard large areas from rockets and missiles.
July 12 2006: 7:02 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Northrop Grumman forecast Wednesday a potential "very large" market for a laser-based system it has developed to shield airports and other installations from rockets, ballistic missiles and other threats.


Los Angeles-based Northrop (Charts) said it had already pitched the system, called Skyguard, to Israel, which worked with the company and the Army to develop the technology.


Northrop also is pushing Skyguard - described as capable of generating a shield five kilometers in radius - to each of the armed services and the Department of Homeland Security, company executives told a news briefing.


Setting up a protective "bubble" around a typical airport might cost $25 million to $30 million once enough systems were installed, said Mike McVey, vice president of directed energy systems at Northrop's Space Technology business unit.


"If it goes that path, it's a very large market," he said, citing potential demand from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and what he called virtually any country facing a threat from a neighbor.


For the United States, an initial unit could be ready in 18 months for $150 million to $200 million, added Dan Wildt, Northrop's director of business development for directed energy systems.


Northrop described Skyguard as capable of destroying rockets, mortars, artillery shells, unmanned aerial vehicles, short-range ballistic missiles, as well as cruise missiles. Against shoulder-fired missiles, which are relatively easy to heat with a laser and destroy, the protective shield would extend to a 20-kilometer radius, Wildt said.


Raytheon (Charts), eyeing a similar market, has developed a ground-based airport protection system that uses high-power microwaves to protect commercial aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles.


Raytheon's system, called Vigilant Eagle, could be at least 10 times cheaper than aircraft-based countermeasures now in development, Mike Booen of Raytheon Missile Systems said in rolling it out at the Paris Air Show in June last year.


Both Northrop and BAE Systems also are adapting devices already used on military aircraft to protect civilian aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles.


Wildt said Northrop was hoping to receive within days a Department of Homeland Security study contract related to Skyguard, perhaps totaling $7 million and possibly to be split with others.


Christopher Kelly, a department spokesman, could not immediately confirm such a contract was forthcoming.


Northrop said it would seek a U.S. government export license for Skyguard, assuming Israel wants an initial system.


Skyguard grew out of the Tactical High Energy Laser, or THEL, designed to shield Israel's northern communities from Katyusha rockets and artillery shells.


The new-generation is only one-fourth the size of the original package, but has higher power and a larger beam, making it much more capable, the company said.