The Defense Department has approved export sales of BAE Systems’ Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM), allowing sales to allied nations.
“In today’s environment with the proliferation of surface-to-air missiles, a proven aircraft survivability system to counter advanced threats meets an immediate need,” Bill Staib, director of threat management solutions at BAE, said March 2. “We are seeing tremendous international interest for this system, which has proven to be both highly effective and reliable since its fielding in 2009.”
ATIRCM uses BAE’s Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) to detect an incoming missile, rejecting false alarms, and it communicates the missile’s position relative to the aircraft. ATIRCM then locates and tracks the incoming threat. A high-energy laser beam is emitted to defeat the missile’s infrared seeker, which effectively blinds its guidance system and prevents it from homing in on the aircraft.
Developed in partnership with the Army to counter shoulder-fired weapons (MANPADS), which are heat-seeking missiles that home in on the infrared energy generated by the heat of an aircraft engine, ATIRCM is currently deployed on military helicopters and can be used by fixed wing aircraft.
Deployed on mission critical Army helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2009, the latest Army report states that ATIRCM’s reliability surpasses the Army requirement several times over. The system has logged more than 85,000 combat hours on various platforms and in different environments. The reliable system performance significantly reduces the total ownership cost of the system while ensuring mission readiness.
With more than 40 years of experience in threat management, the company said it has fielded more than 15,000 infrared and electronic countermeasures systems worldwide.