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The Vigilant Eagle Airport Protection System is a proposed directed-energy weapon under development by the U.S. military under a Defense Department contract with Raytheon. It would create an invisible microwave dome around an airport that could block missiles heading toward incoming and outgoing aircraft.〔''Raytheon focuses on non-lethal weapons,Andrew Johnson, (The Arizona Republic, 09-17-2009)〕 Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) are shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) that present a tremendous threat to both civilian and military aircraft. It is estimated 700,000 MANPADs are built and sold across the world, thousands of which are unaccounted for and sold daily on the black market. The U.S. government says these type of attacks have been used in at least 36 times on civilian aircraft in the past three decades. A successful attack of this kind would cause more than loss of life. The estimated cost of a four-hour operational shut down of an airport is $40 million. This would have an estimated $10 billion impact on the U.S. economy and an estimated $300 billion impact globally. == History == Raytheon's experimentation with directed energy weapons began when its research labs' experiments had inadvertently produced the first microwave oven in 1958. Under William Swanson, Raytheon’s chairman and CEO, the company has become even more focused on directed energy systems. He has stated "When I look at directed energy, it's clear that if someone is gonna put us out of business, it will be us." Raytheon Missile Systems developed Vigilant Eagle under a U.S. Defense Department contract and has discussed with the Department of Homeland Security, the potential of using it at U.S. airports.〔 In 2006, a $4.1 million contract with the Department of Homeland Security was issued to assess the anti-missile system. Within the last three years, the company's researchers have shot down multiple types of shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles at a distance of several miles with pulses of microwave energy. The company says that its prototype high-power microwave (HPM) weapon, with an energy focused to within 1 degree, sends an electrical pulse which penetrates through openings in the missile’s metal parts and reaches its computers and guidance system. This energy is powerful enough to damage electrical components and scramble computer memories causing the missile to fly off course.〔 Raytheon has tested the system at an American airport, but both the company and the airport are unwilling to disclose which one because of a confidentiality agreement.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vigilant Eagle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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