IR countermeasures system from NG delivered to U.S. Army ahead of schedule
Rolling Meadows, IL--The first of eight common infrared countermeasures (CIRCM) missile defense systems for the U.S. Army were delivered two months ahead of schedule by Northrop Grumman (NG) Corporation (NYSE: NOC). Northrop Grumman successfully completed acceptance testing with the Army on the first CIRCM suite of equipment and delivered a complete hardware set. This testing, which confirmed system performance, size, weight and power compliance, was completed two months ahead of schedule and validates the Northrop Grumman IRCM offering as capable and mature.
The system was delivered under a $31.4 million Technology Demonstration contract to develop the next generation of aircraft survivability equipment to defend helicopters against man-portable air-defense systems and other heat-seeking munitions. The system is now scheduled to enter reliability testing.
"With the growing proliferation of infrared threats, it is more important than ever that our troops have effective protection from these missiles," said Jeffrey Palombo, Vp and GM of Northrop Grumman's Land and Self-Protection Systems division. "This early delivery confirms the maturity of our CIRCM solution and is an important step toward getting this technology into the field. We will make certain that our CIRCM system performs beyond the Army's expectations and remains ready to address evolving threat contingencies at a moment's notice."
CIRCM is a lightweight, low-cost, highly reliable, laser-based countermeasure system designed to work with missile warning systems for rotary wing, tilt-rotor and small fixed-wing aircraft across the military services. Northrop Grumman is developing its solution with its partners SELEX Galileo and Daylight Solutions.
Northrop Grumman calls itself the industry leader in directional IRCM system design and manufacture. The company's infrared countermeasures systems have been installed on more than 800 aircraft representing 50 different aircraft types, including large and small fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and tilt-wing platforms.
SOURCE: Northrop Grumman; http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=10020120
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.