(Robert Kalfus)
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The NYPD is better equipped to shoot down the Red Baron than al Qaeda.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s claim that his department has the firepower to bring down an aircraft is technically true, but he was referring to small crop-dusters and not jumbo jets, sources said yesterday.
The .50-caliber Barrett rifle, which can be mounted to one of the department’s six helicopters, was purchased four years ago after reports that terrorists might use crop dusters to spray anthrax or other poisons above US cities.
But cops grumbled yesterday it’s against NYPD rules to fire even at a moving Honda Civic — let alone a Cessna — and it’s doubtful the brass would ever OK firing at a fast-moving aircraft.
“The bosses on this job are afraid to give you a lunch hour. Do you think they are going to give you the OK to shoot down a plane over Manhattan?” another police source said.
It’s unclear what federal agencies would have to be involved in any decision to fire upon on aircraft over the city. The police and Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the protocols.
But an NYPD source said whatever federal involvement there might be, “we are the ones in a position to respond.”
Even though the rifle has nearly a one-mile range, given that the choppers have a maximum speed of roughly 140 mph, it’s unlikely they could catch a fast-moving aircraft.
“It’s not surface-to-air missiles or a weapons system,” a source close to the program said.
Mayor Bloomberg made clear yesterday the rifle could not have brought down the airliners that hijackers crashed into the World Trade Center.
“It certainly does not mean 9/11 wouldn’t have occurred,” he said.
Weapons experts say the .50-caliber rounds are very powerful, but were never intended as an anti-aircraft weapon.
“The rounds are larger than the size of your thumb, and moving at 2,800 feet per second, the kinetic energy behind it is unbelievable,” said Wil Willis, a former Army Ranger who hosts the upcoming Military Channel show “Triggers.”
“But I think it would be nearly impossible to shoot down an aircraft with it.”
Each of the department’s aviation crews has been trained to use the rifle.
Additional reporting by David Seifman and Josh Saul.