Terrorist Threat to Commercial Air Flights Examined
CABRERA: The missile that brought down that Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine and then then recent Hamas rocket that hit so close to Ben Gurion airport in Israel have focused attention on the growing terrorist threats to the flying public. Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look at all of the air corridors in use around the world right now, and now look at all the countries where the United States government says American carriers either should not fly at all or should be very careful about flying in and out of. There are two real reasons to be fearful this when you talk about the possibility of a plane being shot from the sky. First, great big systems like what we've seen used in Ukraine. The Buk system, for example, is powerful, is technologically advanced, and it is very capable of reaching way into the sky and knocking down a plane at a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet or much higher. There are, however, limitations to a plane like this. For example, you need a government to run one of these. They're too expensive too, hard to maintain, too hard to move around for an average group of terrorists out there. Secondly, the training involved is quite advanced. And thirdly, these things can be tracked. When a missile fires from a system as advanced as this, it is noticed by satellites and early warning systems, and governments around the world start saying we need some answers, who fired this and why. Which brings us to the second threat which some people consider more important. Think about smaller, shoulder fired missiles out there called man-pads. These may only reach about two or three miles up into the air, nowhere near the high level, but every plane has to take off and land. And when it does, it goes through this threat zone. What is the advantage to these for terrorist groups out there? Well, they're hugely portable. They only weigh 30 or 40 pounds. They can be concealed easily. The targeting element has vastly improved over the past 15 years. And thirdly, these things can be handled by organized groups and the groups are getting more organized. Think about ISIS out there. These twin threats are the reason in the wake of Ukraine that aviation analysts around the world are carefully scrutinizing all air traffic in all corridors saying, are there vulnerabilities that have not been noticed, putting other passengers at risk?</s>CABRERA: All right, thanks, Tom. You learn something new every day. Thank you for joining me. I'm Ana Cabrera. The next hour of CNN Newsroom begins right now with Miguel Marquez in New York.