American Airlines' planes flying the transcontinental route between New York and California are slated to carry anti-missile defense systems attached to the underside of each craft. The defense system is a missile jammer that scans for and, once detected, confuses missiles with a laser so that they miss the aircraft entirely.

The system has been included after a congressional mandate four years ago that commercial flights should have a better option than blowing up against attacks of this nature.

Overseas, where ground-to-air attacks are more frequent, this technology could help keep airways safe. Experts, however, say that not only are there larger threats facing planes that this technology won't guard against, but that it's being implemented far too late, following an outdated mode of thinking.

Yahoo News, via Spluch