Airlines to start using Smart Cards for identification

I found this rather interesting. Very few details on how it works or anything, but five airlines are joining Israel in using a Smart Card identification system that would allow inbound planes to be identified as non-hostile. This would no longer require them to be intercepted. Any aircraft not using this system would still be intercepted over the Mediterranian.

Five airlines have joined Israeli carriers in a pilot scheme begun in early March aimed at proving the efficiency of Israel’s unique system for positively identifying pilots of aircraft approaching its air space.

The five airlines from Canada, USA, France, Britain and Ethiopia will work with the Israeli carriers and a highly classified system developed by Elbit Systems and will allow Israeli air traffic control to verify that any incoming aircraft is not hostile.

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