The FedEx Express request for an onboard antimissile system made public last week on a federal website is unusual in several respects, including the fact the installation is for an Airbus A321 aircraft that the express freight carrier doesn’t even have in its fleet and is for passengers, not cargo. And FedEx applied for the design modification more than two years ago.
“Which means it’s probably an experimental test bed,” said aerospace expert Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic...