The Army on May 22 restarted the Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) Technology Development program under a $38 million contract with Northrop Grumman [NOC] and a $31.4 million contract with BAE Systems, the product manager said.
Man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) are a major threat to rotorcraft and small fixed wing aviation today, as they have proliferated across the globe, Lt. Col. Chris Brown, product manager for countermeasures, said in a media roundtable. The Defense Department has been working on ways to counter the threat since the early 1990s.
CIRCM is a Special Interest, ACAT 1D acquisition program that will be the next generation to the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures program. CIRCM will provide the sole acquisition of future laser-based countermeasure systems for all rotary-wing, tilt-rotor, and small fixed wing aircraft across the Defense Department.
With CIRCM deployed DoD-wide, aircrew will be able to “fight the mission, not the threat,” Brown said. At the same time, the system will boost protection of the crew and passengers.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) cost estimate for the CIRCM program is $5.7 billion.
The 21-month technology development (TD) phase is a competitive program, with the first unit equipped expected in 2019 on the Sikorsky [UTX] UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, the lead aircraft.
Post award conferences with the two companies will take place next month, Brown said. The next milestone review is planned for 2014.
The Army plans to acquire 1,076 B kits, and 3,373 A kits, he said. The B kit is comprised of the laser, control units, computer and software, while the A kit contains the wiring and components to hold the B kits on the aircraft. Every aircraft has a unique A kit, but they’ll all have the same B kit.
The Request for Proposals (RFP) was released in February 2011, and five vendors responded: Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, ITT Exelis [XLS], Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Raytheon [RTN]. The Defense Acquisition Board review was held in December, and contracts were awarded at the end of January.
The proposals were “fully and fairly” evaluated in accordance with the RFP and represent the best value to the government, Brown said. He gave a nod to the thoroughness of the team in Hunstville, Ala., which led to DoD support for the strategy. “The bottom line is we did it right.”
The CIRCM consists of a laser-based countermeasure that will be fully integrated with an Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE) suite that includes passive missile warning, an improved countermeasures dispenser, and advanced expendables. CIRCM will be a light, low cost, highly reliable, laser-based countermeasure system that will work with service missile warning systems.
While the budget was cut in fiscal year 2012, Brown said there is carry over funding from FY ’11. Also, the TD phase is fully funded. Additionally, initial development of the acquisition strategy for the next phase is in its infancy.
The acquisition plan now is to carry multiple vendors through engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) and full rate production to reduce ownership costs, he said. Competition will continue down to the black box and circuit card level, as the service looks to get the technical data rights.
Northrop Grumman and BAE are scheduled to deliver prototype hardware in months 9 and 10, Brown said. Then, though they don’t have to, they can take the equipment to the Army’s two infrared test and evaluation labs, which have identical capabilities—one in New Jersey, one at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. The lab tests will inform the preliminary design review, now scheduled for around month 14. At month 16, contractors will deliver hardware to test to the Army, to see if the equipment meets exit criteria to move to the EMD phase.