The Air Force said Wednesday it awarded Northrop Grumman [NOC] a $160 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to buy hardware and support for the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system.
Northrop Grumman Vice President of IRCM Carl Smith said yesterday in a statement the order is for additional transmitters, missile warning sensors, processors, lasers, control interface units and supporting equipment. Work is expected to wrap up by April 2015, according to the Air Force.
The Air Force in July awarded Northrop Grumman a $436 million requirements contract for LAIRCM system sustainment (Defense Daily, Aug. 3). The Air Force said in November it restarted C-17 LAIRCM system modifications after a two-year delay (Defense Daily, Nov. 1). C-17s are developed by Boeing [BA].
LAIRCM is a complex and highly effective missile threat detection system, according to the Air Force. The system functions by automatically detecting a missile launch, determining if it is a threat and activating a high-intensity, laser-based countermeasure system to track and defeat the missile. The LAIRCM program is a solution to the problem of protecting Air Force transport aircraft from missiles, whether they be air-to-air, surface-to-air missiles or shoulder-fired, infrared (IR), man-portable air defense missiles (MANPADS).
LAIRCM provides defense from widespread and growing missile threats by confusing guidance components in enemy air defense systems. It is designed to safeguard large transport and rotary-wing aircraft. The system is also used on the C-5 and C-130 aircraft, which are developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT].