henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (07/03/83)
A recent issue of Flight International had an interesting photograph. It was one engine pylon of the 747 Shuttle Carrier, as seen on the ground at the Paris Air Show. The interesting part was the two little cylinders fastened to the pylon, high up under the wing. These are not standard 747 equipment. According to the caption they are infrared jammers, for confusing heat-seeking missiles! Seems NASA and the USAF weren't taking any chances on somebody shooting at the Enterprise while it was out touring the world. -- Henry Spencer U of Toronto {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
alb@alice.UUCP (07/05/83)
I don't know about the infrared jammers, but the plane itself does have an anti-missle missile system. NASA said this, when confronted with pictures, but would not elaborate.