(Oct. 8, 2026 \/ JNS)\n <\/p>\n
As national attention in Israel remains focused on aviation security, Elbit Systems\u2019 C-MUSIC defends all Israeli commercial airliners, as well civilian aircraft around the world, from the widening threat of shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missiles.<\/p>\n
The system, installed on the aircraft, detects an incoming missile\u2019s infrared signature and fires a jamming laser that disrupts its seeker head, causing it to miss its target, an Elbit representative told JNS.<\/p>\n
The C-Music (Commercial Multi-spectral Infrared Countermeasure) is part of a family of DIRCM (Directed Infrared Counter-Measures) developed by the Israeli defense company.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe system is mounted on the helicopter or the aircraft, on the airborne platform, and it identifies, with the help of optical sensors, a missile approaching the platform, a heat-guided missile. We\u2019re of course only talking about heat-guided missiles,\u201d the representative said. \u201cThe moment it identifies it, it aims, very precisely, a laser beam at it that disrupts the missile\u2019s seeker head, and the missile essentially falls,\u201d the representative said.<\/p>\n
Unlike other laser systems, C-Music\u2019s laser does not burn a hole through the missile, but disrupts the missile\u2019s heat sensor.<\/p>\n
The detection array consists of four sensors mounted on the aircraft that provide 360-degree coverage, the source explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey stare passively all the time until they see a flash they recognize as a flash from a missile approaching the aircraft. They transfer the information from that system, which we call the detection system, to the jammer, which carries out the laser firing,\u201d the representative said, describing the sensors as \u201cvery sensitive optical sensors, very high resolution,\u201d developed and manufactured entirely by Elbit.<\/p>\n
The system performs identically regardless of the hour, day or night. \u201cSince the missile is a heat-guided missile and the response to it comes in the infrared spectrum, it\u2019s also called DIRCM, directed infrared countermeasure, and therefore there is no difference between day and night for the system,\u201d the representative said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as the missile that was fired chases the heat of the aircraft\u2019s engine, that\u2019s how we confront the missile too, in terms of the infrared aspects, so there no day or night effect,\u201d the source stated. \u201cC-MUSIC is what we call the system that is certified for civil aviation, commercial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Development of the system goes back over two decades. Elbit began development following the 2002 Mombasa terror attack, in which assailants fired two heat-seeking missiles at an Israeli Arkia charter jet taking off in Kenya; both missiles missed. Ten years later, the first systems hit to market.<\/p>\n
Demand for the system has grown steadily and accelerated further in recent years, according to the source.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly since the war in Ukraine in 2022, and afterward of course, following the war in the Middle East and in the Gulf as well, we\u2019re seeing growing demand around the whole world, in Europe and on other continents too,\u201d he said, adding that Elbit is \u201csetting up additional production lines\u201d to keep pace, without disclosing customers beyond what has already been made public.<\/p>\n
Shoulder-fired missiles, known as MANPADS (man-portable air-defense systems), began proliferting heavily after the fall of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, when Libyan weapons storage centers were raided.<\/p>\n
After that the collapse of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and the decline of Al Qaeda, proliferation of such weapons continued, apparently both of missiles and of people trained to use them, who scattered around the world, the representative said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that demand for my systems keeps growing, and it\u2019s growing around the whole world, not just in Europe or just in Asia or just in Africa, but really across the whole world… I assume the relevant intelligence bodies around the world know these things are really happening,\u201d the representative said.<\/p>\n
He added that the simplicity of using the missile launchers is part of the danger. \u201cThe advantage of these missiles: One, they\u2019re small, you can put them in a car trunk and move them from place to place, and two, you really don\u2019t need much skill. You can see in a lot of sources that someone just fires the missile toward the plane or helicopter and simply turns around and runs, he doesn\u2019t need to guide the missile, the missile just chases the heat on its own. So yes, unfortunately, these systems are very easy to operate,\u201d the representative said.<\/p>\n
He confirmed the C-Music system operates continuously, including during the takeoff and landing phases of civilian aircraft.<\/p>\n
Elbit\u2019s own product materials describe C-MUSIC as \u201ca Civil Aviation Authority certified, laser-based, fully automatic and autonomous system that provides large jet aircraft with comprehensive protection against advanced heat-seeking ground-to-air missiles,\u201d contained in a single fuselage-mounted pod.<\/p>\n
The company states the Government of Israel \u201chas selected the system to protect all Israeli commercial airliners\u201d and is certified and installed on the Boeing 777, 747, 737, 757 and 767 and the Airbus A330 and A320.<\/p>\n
El Al adopted the system in November 2014 under the Israeli government\u2019s \u201cSky Shield\u201d program, through which the Israeli Transportation Ministry selected C-MUSIC to protect the airline\u2019s entire fleet, Airways Magazine reported in April 2023. El Al, Arkia and Israir have all flown aircraft equipped with such anti-missile pods, roughly 2.7 meters long and mounted beneath the rear fuselage, for about two decades, Italian aviation outlet The Flight Club reported in March 2025.<\/p>\n
The renewed public attention on security for Israel-bound flights follows the Sept. 30, 2026, flydubai Flight 1073 incident, in which an Omani co-pilot attacked the captain with a crash ax and attempted to seize the aircraft in order to crash it into Ben Gurion Airport, before being stopped by the injured pilot and Israeli passengers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Oct. 8, 2026 \/ JNS) As national attention in Israel remains focused on aviation security, Elbit Systems\u2019 C-MUSIC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-639941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}