Date posted: 07/24/2006*

A commercial airliner barrels down a runway, gradually building up enough speed to take off. The jet’s wheels leave the ground as it climbs slowly into the sky. Unbeknownst to the passengers onboard, an enemy hiding offshore is tracking the lumbering jet through the sight of a portable shoulder-fired missile. The infrared missile locks on to the heat source of the aircraft’s engine, launches and races toward the aircraft. Suddenly, the missile falls lifelessly from the sky, splashing harmlessly into the ocean below. Within several minutes, authorities pinpoint the culprit’s location and safely bring him into custody.

What Is Vigilant Eagle?
Fortunately, this scenario never took place. However, with Raytheon’s Vigilant Eagle system protecting our nation’s airports, we can ensure that our aircraft are protected from this type of attack. Vigilant Eagle’s ground-based system protects civilian and military airports from man-portable air defense systems (MANPADs), also known as shoulder-fired missiles, with three integrated components: a distributed missile detect and track subsystem (MDT), a command and control (C2) system and an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), which consists of a billboard-size array of highly efficient antennas linked to solid-state amplifiers.

How Does It Work?
The MDT consists of a pre-positioned grid of passive infrared sensors mounted on nearby cell phone towers or buildings with communication lines to the C2. These sensors identify and track missile threats, forming a dome of security over the airport.

The AESA radiates a precisely aimed small diameter beam on the missile. This beam is a tailored electromagnetic waveform designed to interfere with the missile’s guidance circuitry, deflecting it away from the aircraft.

Located on the airport’s premises, the C2 provides pointing commands to the AESA and rejects false alarms and connects to the airport’s security interface. The C2 has the added advantage of being able to determine the missile’s launch point, enabling security forces to apprehend the enemy.

The Vigilant Eagle Advantage
Unlike other anti-MANPAD technologies developed by Raytheon’s competitors, which require onboard installation, Vigilant Eagle offers a superior and more affordable ground-based system that can be installed at individual airports. Vigilant Eagle can provide customers with a savings factor of 10 to 18 times the price of aircraft-borne systems, which have high installation, operating and support costs.

A Real Solution to a Real Threat
Today, MANPADs present a tremendous threat to both civilian and military aircraft. An estimated 700,000 MANPADs are built and sold across the globe, thousands of which are unaccounted for and sold daily on the black market. Raytheon’s Vigilant Eagle has been tested and proven effective against actual MANPADs. With this innovative system, Raytheon can counter this very real and serious threat and help make air travel safer for everyone.

*The content on this page is classified as historical content. See this important information regarding such content.