In September 2003, a year after an attempt was made to shoot down an Arkia Israel Airlines Boeing 757 in Mombasa, Kenya in 2002,[4] the Israeli Ministry of Transportation selected Elta Systems to perform advanced flight tests of Flight Guard for protecting its commercial aircraft.
The system was chosen since it is specifically designed to defend low-flying aircraft against MANPADs, such as those utilized in the attack in Kenya.
[5] The system has proved controversial, with both Switzerland and the FAA[citation needed] in the US raising fire hazard safety concerns.
[7] Although Flight Guard was approved by the Israeli CAA and several other countries, the Israel authority decided to buy a laser-based jamming system called Multi-Spectral Infrared Countermeasure (MUSIC) which began development in 2008, that does not use flares.
[8] As of Nov 2009, few commercial aircraft have anti-aircraft missile protection systems, and these rely on flares as the countermeasure.