competing countermeasures [defence helicopter magazine]

8/7/2019 Competing Countermeasures [Defence Helicopter Magazine]

1/5

I- _ . . . - - ..- -www.rotorhub.com (Tony Skilnlner)

hen wh ts 1 "l~ b lowe r websIteVViki lea [ ;; s ,e 'e~u~d more han 91,000

po s c overing the war in Afgh nistan ontoe In te rn et in J u Iy 2010, the ey e s o f those it ne he lic opt er c ommun ity w ere drawn co on eillT l1g d ocu rn en .ThE ' rJepm l from 3 n M ay 2007 c i z l l m e o tI ) C l IaA rm y C h ln oo k transport ro~oro;aftw as h it by

su rfa LE '- to -a lf m iss ile ( SAM ) s oo n a fte r ~krngffro rn a la nd in g s lte n ea r th e Helmand River.'The fTl Is~"e struck th e a i r c ra f t In th e left

T h e Impact oftl1e mls:slfe projecteda ft end of the heh copter UiJ as It b ur st in to

fla m es, f ollo we d im media Le,ly by a nose d iV ein to th e (J ds h 5 1 t e with no surulVofs:thed oc um e nt sa LW hile the U S m mtillry down played t1,e

'iL g nif ic a n ee o f th e r ep or t w hen ItI lmerged.analysts subsequently fourn::ll! :ferences 05everiill 'n e ar m i ss e5 ' in t he le ak ed d o cum e ntsa sWe ll a s f ' 1 I 2 ] J O r t s o f C h in esE! HN - S a ndRuss ian SA-7 SA llAs being Ut1covered inT a li ba n we ap o n s e a ch e s,T he p re se nc e o f IR S AM s in th e A fg ha n

theatre- h a d e a rl ie r b ee n oontlTrned by LtGenGoary NOrti1 1 com mand er of 9th A i r F orc e a nd

U S A i Forces C@n tr aLw ile n b e was asked byreporters In Apr il 2009 .'Weorraslonany SeE tneSA-7- ' type handheld

IRS iAM. Every aircraFt: ln our t:actic:al li ft an do ur h elic op ters h av e g ot def sns lve m asu res~apablnl :) ' , a nd ow in le llig en ce Is ve ry g oo d, 'S oo ur a via to rs g oI ng o ut a re a rmed wIth the latesti nte ll igence and the best in technology for IRmi : isHed - e~ (I t:No rt h s a .d .A fur ther g l lmpse of th e threat w a p rov id ed

in a B A E Sy st em s p r es s r e l e a s e Is su ed toh ig h U gh tme SUCC2S5 I n- th e at re o f it s AdvancedThreat I n frared Coun te rmeasures (AT IRC M~ _
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2/5

S Y S L m wh ch h as been fi(!lded on US AImyCH-4 7 Ch inooksTh e Apri l 20 U rei ase Liaimed t ha t AT IROJ I.

ha d a l ready b ee n c re dite d w ith d efe J[ln glR -g U ld ed m ts s le s a fte r g orn g into s erv ic e o nthe C hinook nee 1 ' l lOl '1ths earlier.

'ATlft~ wes f u t to he est In a c omp l exi tu a tl o n wh e r e JHnook a uc a ft were ! ; !ngagedby rn ul lp le in fra re d, m an- po rt ab le a ir -d ef en cemissl ll ? s J im Crouch/ generaJ m anager ofsur vi vabilit y C t ndprotectlon solut tans forBAE Sy st em s , strrted,However I lelrher the com pany no rh e

military would p ro vid e fur the . d et ail~ o f t he!nod~nt c ite d I n the docurnent, a l rhougl , here le ase w ou ld ce rta mly h iIve b een cle ared byths U S A rm v,Although a n ny so ur ce s have repea ted ly

s tr es sed hat th e more Slgnifja.ll"1! thl'e


3/5

ORO\ I I, wU I be required tojam MAN PADS mls s il e s1 h a tIhav Iutkl onlo the ho~th elic op ter . W h n to : U 5M (':1

~ . -- - -~

H o we ve r, th ls a pp ra isa l h as b ee n v oe, lI yl"efured by mamrfacturerBAE SyS1e ,~ whichclaimed t h at fi el d ed u n it s of the A N /A LQ - 1 2(V )AT I R (WCMWS suite "a d 'gr~a'tly enhanced0\1 r ail a ircraft 5Urvjva bi lity:

Tom K ir kpat ri ck , AT lRCM aRC programmel 1 1 i a n , a g e r . {old DH that a n y reli.abilrty lssuesh a d 'e v a pom t p d '2 1 n d t h e mmpan y wask ee n to h ig hh gh t A TIRCM 's oer for rnanceIn theatre.

II cnn ge every tim e Is ee a ny o ne I mp lY in gthat 050 isnot happy with the system: hesmd.1l do Xlythatwith Q g ra in o f s alt because Iunderstand the l~gac .y of the progrr.lmme,wh ic h, a d mlttedly, w as p la g u ed by th e a rmy ' sperce p l . . i on of low reliability oh he syY em ,BAE IS n ow v ery glad m i 3t i t is fielde d an d 1 ISproving In the nelulh,n we d o p ro d uc e ave.ry reliable PrDdUC1

KnkpiJtr ic.k pcimed to rel~iiliiltty rnerricsfigures that i'lf"e agreed with the army-

lurrnq It development Forexilmple, In A.pril2G l 0, the D oD r el ea se d t he det!:lIhl ofselsctedacqul~llon reports that had been subrnirted toCongress le previous December .T he in ormenon stated that an O ffice o f h e

P , c . r e - t C l r y o f DeFem ; ~ (OSD )~le d 2 1 55 E '5 .s rn en o fairborne ' )E! l f -prmectlOn c{lpabll itie:s showedthat the rehi.ibdi yohh~ ATlRCM unlts neld!?dtc de tl: wa s ~D()i" a nd hen ce the qtJ.mtJl:)'W~5 reduced toonly those needed for heIIIII ecilate QRe.

WhlCh . asof the end of De-ember, put th .AT IRCM lCMWS system it 19 hou rs o "meanime bewveen mission-affecting allures(MT BMAH a s ta n da rd that LS mo r e rigorousth an a slr np ler nea n tim ! ? } tw een failuresrataThe army reliabUityspeli fkat ion IOf ATIRCM

i n t h ea t re called lo r 2 1 mlrnmum thr~hold of2 3 1 h ou r:'i a rid a sr re tc h o bje C liv e'o nOOhou rs MTBMAFTo r q uite O J while, ATlRCM has bef!l1 over

it s threshold requjrernent, an d lh p num be. fort hi s week [ comrnl :! n ang 20 Decem ber 201 0]put the cornblned CMW S and ATlR CM 5ysremabove the 300-hnur object1Ve- S'O n ot o nlyhavew~ rnetthe mirurnum we have gon"beyond ~hestretch objective th e a rm y gaveus, Ki(kpatrlc:k saidBAESystems ho~s to bulid en such

achievementsthrougn It!. Boldst rOki :d ir ec tab le IRCMsu it e, w hi ch h as b ec om ei ts offenng or ORCM .T he firm w as ' O n e of a nun ber of

Industry l e a r n s th at to ok p ar t E n a senes of

AIRCRAF t & HIEL ICOPTER SVSTIEMS


4/5

eml'lruf'l merna I an d sim u!~ don re sts in D t.'C em ber2 .0 .0 9, w hic r,[n e P EO f or I nt ellig e nc e, E I & tr on icWarfare an d S e ns or s ( P EO 1E\N&5) at fortMonmouth NtW Je rs ey , u se d r o v al id at et he c u rr en t level o f Lerhnology ava i l able .

H owe ve r, M ar k Hu t ch i ns , Bo ld s tr o keproqrarnme managef, said tile n ew ~r ~ y~ u.:mw as a m o re a dv an ced ite ra tio n o f t h e: p r o d u c tinvolved 1 1 l th o se te sts .T h e la se r w a s 5 im i l iH , bu tth e pointer-tracker at that time W.1S sup ph ed byow par tners , I\s ( h e govemmen t "s requi rementevot . .. . .ed , thosa pointer- trackers had si9nif i (~ntcost werght and reliabllity concern5- ~pecial lyc os t a n d weight:hA sa id .

H e rem a rk ed th at, a s w ell-a s le ve ra gin g t heex pen ence g nJ nQ d on the AT lRCM programme .th e Bold5 I TOkE s ystem fea tu red a missiona rc blr ec tu re t ha t w"'~ component-mdspsndent ,so a ny la ser or polrner-tracker can be Integfatedwith it as required,

W l 1 i lp - t h e v a n o us i n rl ust ry1eam ! i. werecr r rurnspect abolltgrving away to o m an yt echn i c a l d ew ll s oftheir so . lu t ions - Wit"illformatlon a bo ut th e la~er. In particular,often off- lim ib ~ one company with ano b v io u s t ec h n ic a l d is cr im in ato r ism.

T o e n s u r e 3600 c C J l I e r c J g e of th e al r c r a f t ,t he f irm 's soluucn employs multiple- poirner-trackers, controtled by a c en tra l c on rro l u nrta nd c on ne cte d b yfi bre --o ptk cable. Acc:ardingto Bob l aw ! er . ll I business d e v e J o pm en tmanager r or I ReM programmes, this solution,in cornblnat ten WT t h C i MOSA a p pr oa ch , r es ul te din a lo we r- co st, I m... ..erwcjght p r o d u c t withincreased reliability

'W e feel 1 hat u sin g flbr~pti' lines to rnovel Re ne rg y a ro un d th e ~ j!. te m J5 a s te p fOr\NarO, ThE !r es u lt i s t ha t it al lows LI:!i[0 us e f eWEr boxes onth e airrr;;rafL w~ca n u se onelaser fo r m U i ln p l E !pointer u ackers, So the- welgh t ad 'vamage Isobv iou 5 - YOLI h aw ~ few er b oses. M y ou havefe we r b ox es , wur r elia bility g oe s u p. a nd Italsocosts 155 : Law l er s a id .'Also, it you ha v e an archi tecture thati l l l . e 9 r a t ~ : S in a n o p en way, ' l . l ' D t Jca n easily replace

Indlvldua! parts i n rhet sys tem if neces'l i .lry'H e s ald lhe product h rJ d been i1"1develo prnent

ro r so me fL ve yea rs an d h ad E leen th roug h f O L . . l 's er ie s o f HighL tESts, ea ch w ith a dd ed oornple:xitya s th E s ys te m Im p r ov ed . T h e 11 '1()S{ rec en tw as inJ un e .l0 10 , In wh ich 2 1 complete productwasH ewn on a UH -60 on the na~' a ir te st r an gei n L i :\ k J~hu ts t .New Jersey. The t hr ea ts w-eredetected and handed mho the polnter-tracker,

8AE Systems has taken itsexperience withthe A TmCM P l'o g fa l! l1 me and d'l;l\ielnped itsBoh1stroke product roOJ [email protected].(Photus~BAESyrtel1l$~an d th e laser b esrn w as d ire cte d b ac k atrhat hr ea t r n is sl le ,

L aw le r a ss erte d tn at fo llo w ing tnt 'S test, themm pa ny w as c on fid en t that th e solution w as a tTer:hnoJogy Read i n e ss Level (niL) 6, He d id adm it,h ow ev er th at he 'W ou~d he be i ng l e ss thanhOlle!: t{ ' l f h e sa id th ere h ad been n o p ro blem sin the d e velepment of the config u rattan.jBut tnars wh~'we do development In [he

restin g th at w e d id with the a rmy i1 1 l a te 2 009 ,there were s om e i ss ue s with th e fibrecopti(cables. We f ou n d t ha t the l as er en er gy th atp a ss ed th ro u gh lh e s yste m w a s I e - 5 5 r hanwhat w e . expected~Efn subsequen t. s el f- funded, teSI5 with tldifferentIRcable, the com pany w asab le ttl- pmiJE! [h a tth~e was a 1 5 f old I l'" lc re as e in m e IEl5etenergyp a ss -t hr o ug h c omp a re d with th e previous tr ials,'W e -u nd ersta nd th at w as a question, an dbecause rt WM a q u es n Or"L,w e h av e (lddressedit - h h as. b een a h ig h priority fo r U5 LQ d o th a t.~n d w e believe we h av e th e sol LJ r lD fl f ur t heGbre-o-ptic cable~

UncertaintIes remain OYer' m e lndusrrvp alm ers th at will join th e lIT bid . T h e firm has~en infom12l!lyworkingw lr h L cc kh !,; !e d Ma rt inMission Syst~m5 a nd S en sors 'M S2) - th e twoc orn pa nles p artn ered o n { lie D ecemb er 2 00 9

a rm y v alid atio n iests - b ut a ny formal teamingagreement app~fs dependen t on the consentso f th e R f P .lockheed 1 1 , ~ a r t i l 1m a y y et take a two -p r o nged

a pp ro ac h a s itv i e s for a sli ce o f th e ORCMcontract In Novembe 'f 2010 , t heo rg .m is a fi ona n r n : 1 u n - c e d that it s MI$!i"~sand FIR?Con t rold lv is . ion was p urs uin g th e roqulrernent, tlrfngth e le ad in a te am in g with DRS Tecl1nofo9le~ d n dD 6 i y b g l l t So!tj(]On.5. Demons t r a t i ons of MissUesand F i r e - Control's dist r ibuted-aper ture IRCMc on ce pt e ls o look p la c e i n D e cE 'mb er 2009.In da.ifylng Lockheed Man.lnls posit ion

on ClRCM, a spokesperson said thai M i ' i S l t e si;I n d F ire Centre lund M S2 m ay 5Ti l l faCE! o ff 0 nd :if fe .r e- nttea m s T o e ns ur a th e governmenthas the opporlunizy t o e v a lu a te the breadtho f o ur v ariO U 'i s ol ut io n s. L o c k h ee d M~~ J 1p~deTe rmined to take 2! multl-raceted epp roachi n responding [0th e RfP b as ed u po n drFf~remlk.l{:hnical offenngs. T he r es ult or thls approachis that Lockhe@d Mar t In l ~chno logu~sar r!represented on d if fe re nt te am s - ~ commono cc u rr en c e In t h e d ef en c e u1du5tryj ' thespokesrna n Lonf t r rned ,1 1 ,e c ompany sard lts IReM systeln, whK h

employs a DaylighT SO i l r i ons mu lt lwave lengthquanrum-cdLScade I~~ (QCL). h a d beensi:lCCeSSfl1l1yintegrated wlrh {h e eXlsl ing CMWSand was compaLibl with next-qeneratlonmiss il e wa rn ing systems

In pitching it S s ol ut io n a s ct lew-risk,affordable a nd mu~ t l : .e r v ic e I=ImdUL'1, Lockb~edMarrfn 1$ htghHghtln9 it s 30- plu s y e ar -s ofa xp en en ce In r R rn iss tle warnIng systemdeve lopmen t and production, and in laserpolnte r - t ra rker t ec h n ol og y ; C I ti n g suchp ro qra rn rn es a s A rro wh ea d , rh e S nip erd d v an ce d tm g etin q pod and the F -3SE l e ct ro Op t fc a lT a r ye ti n g S y st em .

Also lookl11g 10 casr l tse ll (1 S t he I nC1Jmbe l' "l t i sNo rth ro p G r 'Ummo': !n ,Wh i ch a ff en ; .a d jrect ion~1lReM ( DIRtM ) s y'S tem I n conjunction wh'h SelexG a m e o . T he d ev ke co rn bmes S( 'lexG~l i !eo'sEconomK Compa c t l i~m-vJElghl Poimer -Tr l i ckerSystem ( E C U P S E ) w ith N o rth ro p's ownm ~ J I n- ba nd V ip er I HCN \ l aserf processor andmt ss de wa rn e r:Speak ing to repor te rs in 2010 , j ac k Pledger,

N o rth ro p G r umman's d irec to r o f JRCM bus inessd ev elo pmen t, c la im e d the compaoy 's AN /AAQ-24 Large Alrt:raft Infrared CounterrneesurestL A I R C M ) system w as th e only such airaaftprotertlon s olu tio n c urr en tly in fu ll p ro du ctio n.

www.rotorhub.com (Tony Skinner)
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5/5

- -- - - -.- - - - ~'IL

ThE c om p an y h as. c arried o ut flrg ht tests o fth e S co rp lo n s yste m in Tucson, A rlz on ilj o n a nam "l) l UH 1 a s:w ell a s e n vir onmenta l a ndv i br a ti on e sts throughout 2010.

Ri3Vlh@ on IS also supplylng its Qu l@ tE y e s L a s er Iu rr et A s sembly ( Q E L T A ) , a ke yc om p on en t o flh e DIROVl system, 10ihe U SA Fa ~ pi!rto f a D efe ns l? A cq u fs l I on Ch~ lI engawa rd . U n de r th Is c o nt ra c t, R a y th eo n willI nt eg ra te ' t he Quiet Eyes turret wuh ill QCLp ro vid ed b y Da y llg h S o h rt ie rts

Becen S i l i d th e d ela y In th e IS:'iumg of heRfp was an indication h a t t ll p a rm y w as looki '19fal som ething different bu r a rg ue d th ~ t thef i rm ' s sohmon would meet th lI~elycost.w slght and rellabnity requirernenu.

VVhobe tt er t o f igu re our how to defeatr n is sl le s t h a n t h e people w ho m ak e th em ?B ein g [h e world's l ar ge5 t m is s ile p ro v ide rghie5 u s s om e a dv an ta ge In know ing ho wth e s ys tems work a I "ld w n a lmakes til emnetwork, D

Tota l prrotection againsta ll th re at ty pesH H A l 'E W S O LU T IO N - F u l l p ru r e e t in n

p ro ve n o n h e lic o p te rs s u c h a s t h e A p a c h e ,C o b ra , B la c k H a w k , ell-53, P u m a .

'1t Isth e only prod uction D 1RCM oUllhefiT he re a re 5 00 a jr -c .laf nying rig hl n ow WithtI, e' s y s tem i ns lu ll ed on them - trorn s rn a ~ Ihghthel icopters to bf g jets It TS : a \J ry versati le,very modu l a r app roach, P l edge r sald .

H p.d esc bed how the- two cornpanleshad ta ken th e LAJRCM multi -band laserand u e . . . . .eloped l{spcCifkal ly fo r r o to r c r a rtoperations '111conj unctio n with our partnerSel@ x i n rhe UK , . .. .ve have deve loped a v rymal l, I ~gh tvve lgh l sy s tem , d e s ig ned speaally

around rota y w rng ope ra tio n , spec.LficaUyto go In hel icopters.I t IS m odular - we hav every much mao!;" I be c:omp;:rtlble wiha n o pen a rc hitec tu re a pp ro ac h so th atc om p on en ts th et y ou c.urrently h av e onyou r a lr c ra h wlll ime-gra te with r t :The sy!->tem'sjam head I nte rfa ce is

to rn patible w ith bo th a d irec t-c ou pled la s rerchttecun e . a s; well a s a flbre--coupledapproach, r-nav~cHnga read y upgrade p ath

P ledg el stated th at w ith tw o production linesup end runn lnq the comp a ny was. I n ilpost tLont o r nove qukkly into the rnanutacture phase tfan d when r eqU Ir ed 'We 1l':1'vedemonstrated there ll~ biljry I n th e a rm y re lia bilitY te sts , an d we arer'f;)dy 0 go. INe h av e th e (apacity t o c ont inueth e la rg e' a iIcrat t [)rogram m es w e a re do Ingn ow and add th is to it to rn ee [h e errn y'sre q lrern eru s W I hou a n y p ro blE 'm ~

M eilnw l1H ~ L I e ap pearance of one Ielativenewcome r to th ~ f ie - td h as a sp ec ts o f th epoache r tur runq qarnekeeper abnutit, Missi lem ak er R ay th eo n fo rm ally ~ n no un ce d it'Spar I lopa t ion Inth : com p e ti i on W i th it >S ro rp -o n sy ste m d un ng th e F .,rn bo ro ug hImem?t~{ ]na l Airshow m mld-10lO. Scoroion,c crn b in es Ra y th e on 's D I RCM poln tf! r/ pm re ss tl(d ev elo pe d o rrh e QLl ie Eyes ~em W I han off- he shelf QQ_

'S -ev era l y ea rs a go , -w e ca me u p w lth th eId ea o f mal rymg.:rn dlr-to-alr' m i ss il e s eeke rWi th j;I so li d -s tate f iL J r e l aser [0 show tha t thatI f l i g h t be an eaS len 'l .' a} / r o d o 1e O I R C Mp n JQ f amme: R a y th eo n 's V P f o r d ir ec te denergy, M~ ke B oo ert to ld D r Y . 'I n t he p ro ce ss ,WI! ! ;u r v eye d a ll of th e la se rs around, anda l Ja il' ll r oo k some { If hem in to [ he d es er tn she down misslles Inan opera t iona len v uo n rn ;:o m .lh a t g av e u s a l o to f c o r fi d en c eth at th ls ir m cv an on th at w e came upwlrh w~sactua l ! y qr~ar:

Fu llj 'I l t e g r a e d E W s u u e w . R a d a rW a rn in g R e c e jv e .r L as e r W a r m n gS y s t e m E C M J a m m e r. G h a f i a r id F l a r eD ls p e n s ll lg S y s t e m , D IR C M , a n d t h eo n l y o p a l a l i o n a l ll ~r o ve n I R b a s e dM W S p ro te c t i o n s u u e IR -C E N T R IC ~ - A n I R b a s e df o r c e r n u h lp t i e r s u u e lo r s u p s n o im is Io n c o m p l e t io n

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competing countermeasures [defence helicopter magazine]

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