The distinguished gentleman likes the idea

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Jay Cohen, who now heads research and development at the Homeland Security Department, says they have proven that a laser jammer mounted on a commercial airplane can thwart a shoulder-fired missile attack.

“We’ve invested over $100 million and we have demonstrated that we can satisfactorily defend against MANPADS (man-portable air defense systems), Cohen recently told a House Appropriations subcommittee. Northrop Grumman and BAE are finishing Phase III of a counter-MANPADS program DHS has been running for three years.

There’s only one problem, says Cohen, the former chief of Naval Research: neither the still-ailing airline industry nor the federal government is interested in footing the bill, which ranges $1-$3 million per aircraft.

So instead, the department is looking into mounting missile detecting sensors – and maybe laser-jamming technology – on a high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Cohen’s idea, called Project CHLOE, would station a UAV 65,000 feet above an airport like Washington’s Reagan National to look for and then divert attacking missiles.

The department issued a broad agency announcement March 27 looking for industry input. Cohen is looking at Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk as a possible platform. There are two parked at the Navy’s Pax River, Md., facility, as part of the Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration. But Cohen says he’s looking at all unmanned systems, like General Atomics’ Predator B.

Cohen says if that doesn’t work, he might try high-altitude airships or manned aircraft like even the U-2 spy plane. Rep. Hal Rogers (Ky.), the senior Republican on the House homeland security appropriations subcommittee, likes the idea a lot.

Rogers doesn’t think the Phase III counter-MANPADS project "practical” due to costs and maintenance issues. Instead, he’s urging Cohen to move quickly on Project CHLOE.

When Republicans controlled Congress and Rogers chaired the subcommittee, he hectored several DHS agencies -- from the Coast Guard to the Transportation Security Administration -- for detailed spending plans. But when he wanted something, like a new small manned reconnaissance aircraft for counter-drug smuggling operations, it made it through Congress. So if the distinguished gentleman from Kentucky likes the idea, Cohen ought to grab CHLOE and run with her.

--John Doyle