MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE — American cargo giant FEDEX applied Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to equip its freighters with anti-missile laser systems to protect them from man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).



Various incidents around the world occurred before involving missiles launched at civilian aircraft. Some of them resulted in fatal aircraft crashes due to misidentification.

Laser anti-missile systems are mostly used by military aircraft and disrupt the missile’s ability to pursue the aircraft.

FedEx wants to install these anti-missile laser systems on Airbus A321-200 jets. Its application to FAA only covers this particular airplane model and not the other planes in the FedEx fleet.

The company currently operates hundreds of cargo planes, but the Airbus A321-200 is not yet in use as part of the operator's fleet.