Outside the fence,' the threat to the U.S. Aviation Industry

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the threat to the Aviation Industry from within the United States. The overall investigation starts with one assumption “that there will at some time in the near future be a covert operative group that desires to attack or engage the United States in war on its home land.” The principles of war will be analyzed resulting in covert cell guidance specifically; “economy of force” will require the covert units to be as small as possible to affect as many nodes as possible. Endurance will require the covert team to restrict any tactics that would be high risk, and would prohibit the use of suicide tactics. There has also been a redefinition of warfare in the last several years. What has emerged is a form of unrestricted warfare. The covert cell may abide by the principles of war while engaging the U.S. in unrestricted warfare. These assumptions lead to a center of gravity determination and terrorism as the possible action for the desired effect. Attack and weapon selection analysis results in the selection of the 50 caliber sniper rifle with armor-piercing incendiary ammunition as the most probable attack tactic executed against urban airport environments. Possible solution analysis of acoustic, mid wave infrared and optical augmentation systems reveals the advantages of each of these approaches. The conclusion is that open system architecture should be used to tailor the sensor suite around each airport based on the vital area locations with respect to the urban layout and the best sniping positions. This will lead to a multi- layer and multi-system defensive posture around each airport significantly reducing the risk of a drawn out terror campaign which involves the airline industry.