Northrop Grumman Corp. has unveiled a system attached under an airliner to protect from possible missile attacks, in a move to spur public support for equipping commercial airplanes with missile defense systems.

The equipment would work by emitting a laser beam that would jam the guidance system of a shoulder-fired missile, a Los Angeles Times report said Thursday.

According to the report, the Los Angeles-based defense industrial group put the 6-foot-long canoe-shaped device on display last week at Mojave Airport.

Recent reports of criminals attempting to smuggle shoulder- fired missiles into the United States have renewed attention on efforts by the US Department of Homeland Security to protect airlines from portable surface-to-air missiles.

Amid intensified debate over the necessity of onboard defensive systems, domestic airlines, already financially strapped, are balking at moves to equip their jets with such systems, which could cost up to 1 million dollars per plane.

The Department of Homeland Security has warned of the widespread availability of portable weapons and that terrorists could use them to shoot down jetliners.

"Airplanes approaching LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) are particularly vulnerable because they are flying over mountains "as they descend, the report quoted Jack Pledger, head of the Northrop unit that developed the system, as saying.

No US passenger plane has been downed so far by a shoulder- fired missile outside of a combat zone, but 35 foreign civilian aircraft,many in war-torn parts of Africa, have been attacked with such weapons.

Among those attacks, two dozens of planes were shot down with 640 people killed, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The typical shoulder-held launcher and the small missile were designed by the United States in the 1950s and can strike aircraft flying up to 5,000 meters.

More than 1 million portable missile launchers have been produced worldwide, according to reports.

Source: Xinhua