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Counter-MANPADS Systems Entering Flight Tests

Posted on: Sunday, 23 October 2005, 03:01 CDT

By Rivers, Brendan P

Two countermeasures systems intended to protect US civilian airliners from the potential threat of a terrorist attack using a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) have cleared their final design reviews and are entering flight-testing under the second phase of the Counter-MANPADS program being run by the US Department of Homeland security (DHS).

The DHS last year selected two possible solutions - both laser- based countermeasures systems - for further study: one from Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems' Defensive Systems Division (Rolling Meadows, IL) and another from BAE Systems (Nashua, NH). These two proposals are being studied under Phase 11 of the Counter-MANPADS program, with each company receiving approximately $45 million, on top of the $2 million each received under Phase 1 of the program. Phase I looked at the economic, manufacturing, and maintenance issues involved in deploying such systems on commercial aircraft, and the contractors developed a preliminary design of a system intended to be safe and effective for use on such planes. Issues examined included maintenance requirements, reducing both unit and life-cycle costs, increasing reliability (especially reducing false- alarm rates of the systems in question), and developing supply and training plans that would be applicable to the commercial sector. Phase II is a continuation of this work and is now seeing actual hardware installed on commercial aircraft for flight-testing.

Northrop Grumman is offering a solution based on its Large Aircraft Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system, a DIRCM system designed for large military transports. The system, dubbed Guardian, would be fitted in a conformal pod, or canoe, under the aircraft, as opposed to the LAlRCM system in its military application, which is integrated internally, currently onboard a limited number of US Air Force C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft. According to lack Pledger, business-development manager for the company, using a pod is the more cost-effective and efficient approach, rather than taking the planes out of revenue service for an extensive amount of time and cutting holes in them to internally mount systems as is done with military aircraft. The pod would be fully autonomous and would not require any aircrew intervention.

BAE Systems is also offering a DlRCM system. Its proposal is something of a hybrid of its work on two military programs: the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) system and the Tactical Aircraft Directed Infrared Countermeasures (TADlRCM) system. The missile-warning system is based on the ATIRCM system, while the laser point-and-track system is based on the more evolved TADIRCM system, which features a lower-profile jam head. All of this, like the Northrop Grumman system, would be housed in a pod under the aircraft fuselage.

Officials at both Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems described their final design reviews leading up to the flight tests as very successful.

BAE Systems has already modified a Boeing 767 at Southwest Airlines in Ft. Worth, TX, and has installed its counter-MANPADS system, according to Steven Dumont, BAE Systems' business- development manager for the Counter-MANPADS program. First up will be flight tests for the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for safety of flight and air-worthiness certification, which Dumont said should be relatively brief and require just a few flights. These will be followed by flight tests, run by the DHS, for the evaluation of the counter-MANPADS system itself, and these should be wrapped up by the end of the year.

The US Department of Homeland security is examining two laser- based countermeasures systems, both of which are entering flight- testing, for its Counter-MANPADS program. Here, American Airlines personnel install the BAE Systems solution on a Boeing 767.

Northrop Grumman's Guardian system, shown here fitted on the underfuselage of a 747 airliner, includes four missile-warning sensors - two fore and two aft - on the canoe, with a jamming turret located near the center. BAE Systems is offering a similar podded system.

Northrop Grumman, meanwhile, began its first flight test using a Federal Express MD-11 aircraft in its unmodified state, then later modified the aircraft and installed an aerodynamic canoe - one with the same size and weight, but without the countermeasures system itself. Pledger said the MD-11 was to be fitted with a functional pod for flight tests over the Mojave Desert in September. Flight tests of the pod on a Northwest Airlines 747 will follow, and Northrop Grumman hoped to have its system certified for flight on both types of aircraft by the end of September. For the tests of the countermeasures pod, a stimulator will be used to test the missile- warning functions and receivers to make sure the system puts the necessary amount of jamming energy in the right place.

Tests of both DlRCM systems conducted by the US military have shown them to be effective, but the BAE Systems offering has never been proven in combat, and it is unclear whether Northrop Grumman's has (and, even if it has, that information is most likely classified). - Brendan P. Rivers

Copyright Horizon House Publications, Inc. Oct 2005

Source: Journal of Electronic Defense

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