… or maybe a fighter jet?:

Tens of thousands of airline passengers will soon be flying on jets outfitted with anti-missile systems as part of a new government test aimed at thwarting terrorists armed with shoulder-fired projectiles.

Three American Airlines Boeing 767-200s that fly daily round-trip routes between New York and California will receive the anti-missile laser jammers this spring, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which is spending $29 million on the tests.

Jets will fly with the jammer device mounted on the belly of the plane, between the wheels. The device works with sensors, also mounted on the plane, that detect a heat-seeking missile and shoot a laser at it to send the missile veering harmlessly off course.

Well, I’m thinking a missle veering off-course wouldn’t be so “harmless” were it to crash in a residential area.

But are we really now going to start equipping civilian aircraft with military capabilities? Wing-mounted machine guns for puddle jumpers? Might encounter a terrorist, you know. In our One Nation, Under Fear, it makes perfect sense to spend millions of taxpayeer dollars on this. In the real world, it’s nuts.