NORAD and US Northern Command have asked private and government air security experts for assistance in countering the threat posed by terrorists firing shoulder-launched missiles to aircraft flying within North America. The two commands hosted a conference last week that had 100 experts run through several threat scenarios, all featuring terrorists wielding man-portable air defense systems. “There have been attempts to smuggle MANPADS into North America,” said seminar facilitator David Wilkins. Participants agreed that defense and response would take government-industry cooperation and that it is “unlikely” to completely negate the MANPADS threat.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.