Air marshals 'looking for the unusual'

Israeli air marshals prevented a hijacking in November

Armed air marshals would provide an essential last line of defence against the ever present threat of hijacking, a security expert has argued.

The undercover armed police would be highly trained and "pro-active" - watching for any signs of unusual behaviour which could suggest a hijack was imminent.

Mike Bluestone, managing director of security consultants the BSB Group, said it was essential that air marshals were backed up by improved security on the ground.

Claims that marshals could make air travel more dangerous - particularly if they were disarmed by hijackers - were without foundation, Mr Bluestone said.

'Physically fit'

Announcing the decision to introduce an armed presence on UK passenger flights Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said specially trained police would be used.

The type of weaponry and the calibre of ammunition used is designed not to penetrate the skin of the aircraft

Mike Bluestone

Mr Bluestone agreed that expert training was essential, but said the government would be better off appointing former soldiers.

"You need someone physically fit, who can also react very quickly," Mr Bluestone said.

"In this country you don't have that many police officers trained in fire arms.

"It's far better, in my humble opinion, to take former soldiers with combat and special forces training and train them up to be sky marshals."

Suspect passengers

Fears of gun battles in the sky were misguided as air marshals would draw their weapons only as a last resort, Mr Bluestone said.

Instead their role would be to work as part of re-vamped and improved security arrangements focussed on identifying suspect passengers before problems even developed.

"The key with airline security is a combination of good intelligence and physical security measures, with a heavy emphasis on passenger profiling," Mr Bluestone said.

The plain clothes officers would mingle with other passengers before they boarded the plane and look for signs of potential trouble throughout the flight.

"They will be trained and briefed with reacting and dealing with certain circumstances - they will be looking out for the unusual," Mr Bluestone said.

This could be something as seemingly innocuous as making repeated trips to the toilet, he explained.

'Human target'

British air marshals would almost certainly draw on the expertise of their counterparts in countries like the US and Israel.

There will always be someone who suddenly discovers a crazed idea during the flight

Training could be carried out by special forces experts or specialist units of the police.

Crucially, their guns would be made especially for use inside a plane.

"The type of weaponry and the calibre of ammunition used is designed not to penetrate the skin of the aircraft, but to actually deal with a human target," Mr Bluestone said.

'Last resort'

The security expert also argued that air marshals would not even need to use their gun in most cases.

"Firearms would be the very last resort," he said.

"The thing to remember here is that the armed marshals are not there to use in isolation - they're part of a multi-layered approach to airline security."

He drew attention to a recent flight from Israel to Turkey, when armed marshals overpowered a would-be hijacker without having to draw their weapons.

Despite his enthusiasm for the use of air marshals, Mr Bluestone said it was unrealistic to expect their presence to mean there would be no more hijack attempts.

"Yes, it will be a deterrent to certain people, but of course there will always be someone who suddenly discovers a crazed idea during the flight," he said.