US: Northrop Grumman Corporation's Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) system recently completed another round of US Army testing by demonstrating its capabilities on a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter. The Northrop Grumman CIRCM system was subjected to rigorous conditions over a six-week period, after which the company said it successfully completed the entire government-designed test plan. The system demonstrated its effectiveness under intense aircraft environments that included turns, banks, gunfire, flares, clutter, multiple shots, rotor blades and engine exhaust. It also demonstrated its performance capabilities against captive missile seekers.
"With each opportunity to prove its effectiveness, our CIRCM system has performed well. This flight test performance correlated extremely well with the results of our lab testing demonstration to show the maturity of our algorithms and software, which is something that many new programs can struggle with. Drawing upon more than 1 million hours of laser-based directional infrared countermeasure system operation in theatre, plus 1,000 hours of instrumented CIRCM tests, allowed us to successfully handle the complex scenarios encountered during the flight testing phase of the programme, “said Jeffrey Q Palombo, Vice President and General Manager, Northrop Grumman, Land and Self Protection Systems Division.
The Northrop Grumman CIRCM system is a lightweight and highly reliable laser-based countermeasure system. Using an open architecture approach, it is designed to integrate and operate with legacy and emerging missile warning systems for rotary wing, tilt-rotor and small fixed-wing aircraft across the military services.
Source: Northrop Grumman
