False alarm, at least for now. FedEx's request to include an infrared laser system to protect its planes from possible missiles is put on hold until further notice. Specifically, the Airbus A321-200 models that the company uses for cargo and freight.
According to the FAA, and according to The Verge, it received the proposal in 2019 from the courier company. However, it has been now that the authority has responded to the request in question by pointing out that “it is not advancing at this time”. Which means that the company's planes will not have their own laser system. At least in the short term.
The FAA's decision is based on doubts about the system that FedEx had planned to implement on its planes. There was no data on it and no history of other devices to avoid missiles based on infrared lasers in commercial aircraft. No record, but with evidence. FedEx already tested Northrop Grumman's Guardian laser system in 2006 as a preliminary to its FAA petition.
It would be a unique proposal that would only have a precedent in military apparatus and, of course, for other purposes. And they have been very clear on this. If at some point FedEx, or any other company installed some type of infrared laser, it would be far from those used in the military field.
Unlike high-energy solid-state lasers used in warfare, the idea is more along the lines of countermeasure infrared laser systems. The difference between the two? The former effectively has the ability to blow things up, which for a commercial airliner would be highly dangerous, of course. The second would be nothing more than a kind of laser pointer capable of blinding missiles and thus being able to avoid them. Which is not to say that this prevents accidents against humans or other aircraft. Reasons enough for the FAA to reject, for now, the FedEx proposal.
