MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Russian engineers are reporting development of an onboard defense system to protect civil aircraft from missile attacks.

The breakthrough has been announced by Russian specialists Radioelectronic Technologies, introducing a device allowing aircraft to detect an incoming missile threat, assess the extent of danger and activate passive and active electronic jamming.

Sensors aboard the company's President-S alarm have been designed to send a missile's guidance system a false target to deflect its path, director general Nikolai Kolesov, heading a conglomerate of more than 95 high-technology enterprises operating across Russia told TASS.

“Demand for such systems is real," he said. "Civilian aircraft are being designed with them. The future is there.”

The ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 met its end flying from Amsterdam to Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, over east Ukraine’s embattled Donetsk region in July, killing all 298 aboard. Investigations continue looking into the disaster, widely thought caused by a missile fired from the ground.