Article Posted on : - Sep 13, 2011

Northrop Grumman's compact, lightweight, 5th generation IRCM technology, Photo: Northrop Grumman.

ROLLING MEADOWS (BNS): A successful demonstration of the fifth generation infrared countermeasures (IRCM) system was carried out by Northrop Grumman at its Rolling Meadows facility center.

The compact, lightweight, 5th generation IRCM technology system is specifically designed to protect military rotary-wing platforms.

According to the company, the demonstration proved the system's capability to effectively receive commands from the missile warning system, slew a pointer/tracker to acquire a fast moving target, and maintain jam energy to defeat advanced infrared missiles.

The optical design of the system utilizes a contiguous dome to avoid the obscuration issues that are consistent with older technology-faceted windows pieced together.

"We have taken advantage of new technology to give rotary-wing users a lightweight, affordable system with the jamming power to defeat future threats," Carl Smith, vice president of infrared countermeasures for Northrop Grumman's Land and Self Protection Systems Division said.

The fifth generation IRCM technology is at the heart of the company's US Army Common Infrared Countermeasures self-protection system offering and features a modular system that uses a commercial off-the-shelf processor.