Israeli company Bird Aerosystems has teamed with Airbus to develop and field the Airborne Missile Protection System (AMPS) MV on helicopters and aircraft to protect them from the proliferating threat of man-portable air defense systems, or manpads.

After years of difficulties, the hangars at the Bedek MRO division of Israeli Aircraft Industries are full and faces are smiling.

The proliferation of MANPADS – man-portable air defense systems – increased dramatically in recent years, leaking from collapsed nations (Libya, for example) and from radicals sponsored by rough nations (Iran and North Korea, to mention few of the most obvious). As MANPADS are available for sale on the black market, they appear in conflict zones throughout the world, as well as in the hands of criminal organizations. The growing threat drives military and government agencies to turn to proven countermeasures to protect their air.