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Missile protection system for U.S. jetliners tested. 民航客机反导弹系统

The America will deploy a anti-missile system on their civil aviation industry.

Well the next time you fly, you are maybe on an airplane that is protected from shoulder-fired missiles. American Airlines is helping the Homeland Security Department test ways to protect those planes. Joining me now from Washington to talk more about the new system is Noah Shachtman of Wired Magazine.

Good morning to you, Noah.
Morning.

What is this system called and how exactly does it work?

Ur, it's an infrared counter measure, what it basically does is, it sits at the bottom of the plane, and it looks out for incoming missiles which are one of the deadliest and most pervasive terrorist threats out there, and so it looks out for missiles, and then when it finds one or if it finds one, it sends out a tiny infrared laser beam to shoot off confused missile and send it off course.

All right, how many planes have this system in operation right now?

Well, only in the US commercially, there is only three, and that's a real problem. Um, the, this is one of the deadliest threats at all out there, there are over 750, 000 of these missiles, ur, scattered across the globe. They cost only a few thousand bucks to buy and they can be shot off by just about anybody, so they are easy to operate, they are plentiful and they are cheap. And many other countries like Israel for example, have these kind of measures on all of their planes, but the US has only got this pilot experiment with three.

Yeah, and we are looking at some pretty great video and graphics that are showing how this would work. Ur, American Airlines, as JETEYE system, are there the only ones with the three or its spread across different airlines?

I believe it's only American Airlines right now, and even they have said that they are philosophically opposed to putting more of these missile, er, more of these missile counter measures on their jets.

Really? Why is that? It doesn't sound like it's so expensive.

Yeah. Well, ur, it all comes down to money. Um, although some studies say it'll only cost a dollar per coast to coast trip to maintain, er, these defenses, er, American Airlines and the other airlines say that, that's too much money for them. Ur, you know, look, these days they don't even give us like peanuts or soda on the plane, right? (Right. ) And they're charging us for extra bags, and so now they are trying to cheap out on this too.

Yeah, but I mean, don't you think the consumers, if they know about this, they feel like, wow, you know, an extra dollar for this kind of security, I mean, is it pretty foolproof?

Ur, I don't know if it's foolproof, but it's a lot better than what we've got now which is nothing.

Yup, how long do you figure they continue to test this system, Noah?

I don't know. Ur, look five years ago, there was a very scary incident in Kenya, in which a pair of shoulder-fired missiles was fired at, ur, an Israeli jet, and it nearly blew it up, killing, almost killing hundreds, and so the Israeli government got on board and outfitted all their jets with these counter measures. Five years later, only three of these jets in a test mode in the US, so you know, you'd keep that on, it's gonna take till, er, you know, it's gonna be a thousand years before we have the US fleet outfitted.

Yeah, but I'll tell you, if you are accurate, we just have a dollar of plane flight round trip, I mean, you know, coast to coast. Hey, it's so worth it, think about the other cost, should some like that happen? Anyway, Noah Shachtman of Wired. . . (You think ) Um. you what?

Yeah, you know, you think, I mean. (You think. ) You think if you're gonna spend this money for an extra bag or for, you know, to buy a sandwich on board, maybe you spend a dollar to have your plane protected against the missiles.

Yeah, I shall pony up. OK. Noah Shachtman there of Wired Magazine. Thank you.

-----------------------------------
pervasive---- 无处不在的; 遍布的; 充斥各处的
laser beam---- 激光束
pony up----<美俚>付账,付钱

文本参考中文翻译

美国将要为民航工业配置反导弹系统

下次你乘飞机到时候，可能已经有系统保护你免受导弹袭击。美国航空已经在帮助国家安全部门测试保护飞机的方法。来自华盛顿Wired Magazine杂志的Noah Shachtman会给我们介绍一下关于这个新系统的详细内容。

Noah，早上好。

早上好。

这个系统叫什么名字，具体是怎么工作的呢？

主要是红外线计算测量，主要原理是，该系统位于飞机的底部，探测即将到来的最致命的和最普遍的恐怖分子威胁——导弹，当系统发现导弹，会发射出微小的红外激光射线设计导弹，使它偏离轨道。

好的，那么现在有多少架飞机正在配备这种装置呢？

仅仅在美国进行商业性的应用，只有三架飞机进行了配备，这确实是一个大问题。毕竟导弹是最致命的威胁之一，全球大约有750，000枚导弹分布，成本仅几千元，任何人都可以将它们击落，很容易操作，很充足，很廉价。许多其他国家，比如伊拉克，在所有的飞机上都配备了这种设施，但是美国仅仅有三架飞机在做实验。

时代，我们正在寻找一些比较好的录像或者图标来看一下具体是怎样运作的。在整个航空系统内，只有美国航空的仅仅三架飞机进行了配置，其他航空公司没有吗？

我相信目前只有美国航空，甚至就连他们原则上也反对在他们的飞机上装载更多这种反导弹系统。

真的吗？为什么呢？听上去价格并不贵呀。

是的，归根结底还是钱的问题。虽然一些调查显示每次越洋旅行只需1美元来保养就可以了。但是，美国航空和其他航空公司说，这些防御系统的花费对他们来说太高了。你知道，他们在飞机上不仅供应我们花生或者汽水，对吗？他们为额外的袋子都会收费，现在他们连这项费用都想减免了。

是的，但是，我的意思是，如果消费者知道这一点的话，他们很乐意多支付一美元来享受这种安全服务的，这是很简单的事情。

我不知道是不是简单，但是但是总比现在任何安全设施好的多。

是的，你认为他们测试这个系统还要多长时间？

我不知道。五年前，科尼亚发生了耸人听闻的恐怖事件，一对肩扛式导弹设计一架伊拉克客机，几乎将它完全摧毁，致使数百人死亡，所以伊拉克政府给所有的飞机配备了反导弹系统。五年后的今天，美国仅仅有三架飞机进行反导弹测试，所以，按照这种速度下去，美国所有的飞机都配备好需要上千年的时间。

是的，但是我要告诉你，如果你说的是准确的话，我们只要1美元就可以安全的实现越洋飞行了。对比一下其他费用，这很值得。这种情况能不能实现呢？

是的。你在飞机上花钱买额外的袋子或者买个三明治，还不如用这美元让你的飞机更安全，免受导弹袭击。

是的，这份钱我肯定会支付。非常感谢来自Wired Magazine的Noah Shachtman。