Patent ID: 8434711

Claim:
A method for deflecting airborne missiles, mortars, and other projectile ordnance launched along a trajectory from a ground launch location across a border toward a ground target location, the method comprising: tethering a plurality of lighter-than-air balloons from a plurality of anchoring positions adjacent to and spaced apart along the border between the launch location and the target location; wherein the lighter-than-air balloons are buoyed on tethers upward to a height above the expected trajectory of the launched missile at the border; suspending a plurality of missile deflecting nets comprising interwoven strands forming a mesh along the tethers from the plurality of lighter-than-air balloons, wherein the plurality of deflecting nets extend from above the missile trajectory to below the missile trajectory and wherein the plurality of deflecting nets are connected adjacent to one another to form a substantially continuous deflection shield supported by the tethered lighter-than-air balloons above and along the border between the launch location and the target location; wherein, suspending the plurality of net sheets positioned adjacent to one another to form the deflection shield so that the deflection shield extends substantially continuous along and above the border between the launch location and the target location comprises suspending one or more net sheets spaced behind the other net sheets in the direction of the missile movement so that a plurality of net sheets will engage a missile along the expected trajectory of the missile and wherein the defense shield is capable of engaging and deflecting missiles.