Posted on 06/04/2007 8:08:51 AM PDT by Freeport
Laser missile jammmers to protect Marine Corps helicopters in Iraq
US Marine Corps helicopters in Iraq are to be equipped with laser jammers to defeat shoulder-launched missile attacks after a series of shoot-downs by insurgents.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $10.8 million contract to design and proof a kit to equip first Sikorsky CH-53s then Boeing CH-46s, and potentially Bell Boeing MV-22 tiltrotors, with directed infrared countermeasures comprising two-colour missile warning systems (MWS) and dual laser jam heads. The work is to be completed in 12 months.
Northrop says the US Marine Corps selected its third-generation infrared MWS and laser DIRCM over advanced flares and ultraviolet missile warners for urgent installation on its helicopters in Iraq.
A DIRCM works by detecting and tracking the incoming missile and directing a modulated laser beam at its infrared seeker to confuse the guidance system, causing the missile to veer off course.
"This is the first operational installation of third-generation equipment, including the Guardian laser-only mini pointer/tracker," says Jack Pledger, IRCM business development director.
Northrop is working with Terma on a podded version of its Guardian DIRCM for installation on Dutch Boeing AH-64D Apaches, and Pledger says the system is now considered for Boeing CH-47F Chinook transport helicopters on order for the Netherlands.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
Will they be deployed on dolphins?
Hm. I thought this was already included on the MV-22...I guess I was mistaken.
Another 12 months to install and train personnell........another 12 to debug field problems..........another 12 to retrofit upgrades...........
...supposed..........I cringe everytime an engineer uses that word around here...........
we need more ea-6b prowlers.......
It’s on the AFSOC CV-22, but the Marines haven’t bought it for the MV-22. Things are changing rapidly though, and that priority may change.
TC
This is the crap that the FAA wants installed on all domestic airliners. It isn’t even proven on military aircraft yet.
LOL
None of these “defensive measures” would be necessary, if we would simply not insert our forces into any area as “policemen” or “occupiers” - until AFTER the complete and total devastation of the enemy, his supporters, his families, his friends and his neighborhood/city’s infrastructure...
Think Dresden... Think Hiroshima and Nagasaki.....
Think Victory via the DEFEAT and TOTAL AND UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF THE ENEMY..
Plus the Growler is going to fly it's first flight this summer
prowers are jammers...i believe they already possess the capability to perform this task.....
Come on, River Rat...I’ve seen your postings enough to know you understand this stuff better than that!
Regardless of what is going on in Iraq or Afghanistan, we need to be able to insert our stuff into hot zones no matter what. We won’t always be so lucky as to control the air and the ground all the time.
Thanks for the clarification! I appreciate it.
That sort of thing was just getting retrofitted to the C-17 fleet a year and a half ago. You’d expect helicopters to take a while longer.
huh? whether or not it is on the mv-22 has nothing to do with this article since it is just now starting to be deployed. this is talking about the still much more common legacy helicopters which will — theoretically — some day be replaced with the mv-22.
hmm remind me to read the article before the comments in the future... sorry
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