NEW YORK -- Anti-missile systems will be put on several passenger planes flying in and out of John F. Kennedy Airport, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials said Friday.

JFK Planes To Test Anti-Missile Systems

The program is a test to see if the anti-missile systems are effective in helping prevent a terrorist from using a shoulder-fired missile to shoot down a passenger jet.

Shoulder fired missiles can be referred to as MANPADS, man portable air defense systems.

Three of the anti-missile systems will be placed on American Airlines flights flying between JFK and airports in California, officials said. It is the first time passenger planes will be outfitted with the technology. Military jets have the equipment and there were recent tests on non-passenger cargo flights. "This is phase three of Congressionally mandated testing to determine the suitability of these systems," said DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa.

The anti-missile system, which can be attached underneath the aircraft, amounts to a jamming device that works to send a heat seeking missile off course. In recent years, the FBI has conducted sting operations in Albany and Newark where several men were charged for trying to obtain or smuggle shoulder-fired missiles into the U.S. DHS officials stress there has not been an attempted missile strike on an aircraft inside the U.S. But there have been numerous incidents overseas.

Representative Christopher Shays (R-CT), who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, said this next round of testing using passenger aircraft is appropriate.

"This is a logical step we need to take and its a step we need to take before an attack takes place, not afterwards," Shays said.

Shays said he wants to see how the technology performs and learn more about added costs of maintaining the systems over the 7,000 hours of flight time now scheduled.

New York State's Director of Public Safety said anti-missile systems on passenger planes would just be an added layer that already includes numerous rings of security including bomb detection machines, metal detectors, perimeter security, among others.

A spokesman for BAE Systems said the company received $29 million in federal dollars to help fund the tests to see if the systems works and are worth the cost.

“We’re confident that the passenger-aircraft phase of the program will provide valuable data for DHS’s findings, providing critical, fact-based information to the airline industry and policy-makers,” said BAE's Burt Keirstead.

Some have voiced concern over the cost-benefit analysis of the program pointing out expensive maintenance costs of the systems would add to the $500,000 - $1 million cost system for each airplane, a burden Congress could pass on to the airlines or taxpayers.

An American Airlines spokesman said the company supports this series of tests, but questions whether the outfitting all U.S. passenger planes is worth the cost.

"American Airlines’ position is that MANPADS defense is best handled by interdiction of terrorists efforts to secure MANPADS," said spokesman Tim Smith in a statement. "A secondary measure should be the development of a security perimeter around the airport and its departure and approach paths that would allow aircraft to safely climb and descend for landing."

Air Transport Association which represents the major airlines says it opposes installing the devices because of the cost and questions questions about the effectiveness of the technology.

Officials said while the onboard system is operational, they stressed there will be no specific testing of the devices as previous tests on non-passenger planes have been completed. The test is to see how the system holds up in real-time conditions, they said.