And despite concerns that a terrorist armed with a shoulder-fired missile could fire on a jet carrying Americans, Homeland Security spokesman Christopher Kelly says it will be 18 more months before analysts determine whether the defense systems can be made to last and installed without a hefty price tag.

Tests show the systems, now used on some military planes, break down after 300-to-400 hours of use, a failure rate that would cause chaos in the aviation system if planes had to be constantly taken out of service to be repaired. Officials say they need to last 10 times longer to be used in commercial aircraft.

The department is also preparing to spend $10 million to test other systems, including some that could be set up around airports to protect against a terrorist missile.

Some members of Congress say they are frustrated by the department's slow pace in coming up with a solution.

"Any two-bit terrorist can buy a shoulder-fired missile for $5,000 and fire it tomorrow at a plane," says Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., an authority on the issue in Congress. "More than 750,000 of these (missiles) are proliferating around the world in the hands of 27 separate terrorist organizations, and we're still studying the complexity of the problem."

For the new round of tests, Raytheon is proposing a ground-based system of infrared sensors and high-powered microwave antennae that could detect and divert missiles away from planes.

"It builds a dome of protection around an airport," says Raytheon's Michael Booen. The systems cost about $25 million per airport, significantly less than the expense of outfitting planes with laser systems. It could cost more than $6 billion to install lasers on all 6,800 U.S. aircraft.

Homeland Security is expected to announce by the end of the month whether Raytheon's ground-based system will be among the handful of new systems it will test over the next year and a half.

Although no U.S. passenger plane has been shot at with a shoulder-fired missile, the inexpensive, widely available missiles have been used against passenger and cargo planes abroad. Even an attempted shooting down of a U.S. plane could have a devastating effect on the long-troubled airline industry and the U.S. economy.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, said Congress isn't willing to spend the money or force the airline industry to pay.

"In a time of tight budgets both for the government and the airlines, it's very difficult," Mica says. "It's going to take an aircraft being brought down, and then it will be required."

Although the Homeland Security Department says there is no immediate or credible threat against U.S. airlines, it's "only a matter of time" before a terrorist armed with a missile aims it at a U.S. jet here or overseas, Mica says.

Despite the ongoing technical problems, he says the systems should be "standard operating equipment."

Israel says airlines should be required to pay the $1 million per plane to at least begin installing the systems on planes as they're being built. "That's what they're spending on the new in-flight video systems," Israel says. "I love being entertained, but I'd rather be safe."

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