BAE Delivers Laser Jammers, Receives $68M Contract

BAE Systems has completed initial deliveries of its Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) laser jammer systems ahead of schedule and has received a $68 million contract to provide hardware to the US Army for its Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasure (ATIRCM) system.

Last year, BAE Systems received a $38 million contract to participate in the technology demonstration phase of the Army’s CIRCM competition, which began in 2009 to develop and install the missile jammer on thousands of military helicopters. The company tested and evaluated CIRCM at its Worrell/Weeks Aircrew Protection Center in Merrimack. The units were delivered ahead of schedule, some even as early as three months in advance.

BAE Systems’ Common Infrared Countermeasure system, delivered for testing. Courtesy of BAE Systems.

The ATIRCM system provides passive warning of a missile approach using BAE Systems’ AN/AAR-57 common missile warning system, which cues the ATIRCM jam head to the missile’s location. When the jam head discovers the missile, it emits an energy beam to defeat the missile seeker. Since 2008, the system has logged more than 125,000 hours with a field reliability measure in excess of 700 hours — more than three times the threshold requirement.

“We fully expect that the upcoming CIRCM tests will verify that our decades of experience with survivability technology have resulted in the best next-generation missile protection for Army aviators,” said Bill Staib, director of Threat Management Solutions at BAE Systems. “While innovating for the future, we are also protecting our soldiers today with ATIRCM, which has surpassed all reliability performance objectives and provided 100 percent operational availability.”

For more information, visit: www.baesystems.com