By Ann Roosevelt
BAE Systems‘ Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) system is being fielded to all Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan by year end, officials said.
“We are on track to outfit all remaining CH-47s in OIF, OEF, by end of this year,” said Tom Kirkpatrick, ATIRCM program manager for BAE, told Defense Daily.
Boeing [BA] produces the Chinook helicopter, with both the D and F models deployed. The first unit was officially equipped with ATIRCM systems in November 2009 ahead of the Army’s scheduled date.
The ATIRCM system is a laser-based, directable countermeasure system that protects helicopters against missile attack. The ATIRCM provides passive warning of a missile approach using BAE’s AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning System (CMWS), which detects the missile, rejects false alarms, and cues the ATIRCM jam head to the missile’s location. When the jam head locates the missile with its IR tracking system, it emits a high-energy beam to defeat the missile’s infrared seeker.
“We were told shortly after fielding the Army credited the system with a save,” Kirkpatrick said, something that gave the ATIRCM team a boost. The Army confirmed the system helped the Chinook successfully fight its way out of a situation in which the helicopter was engaged by multiple IR man-portable air defense missiles.
“So far, the system is performing exceptionally well in the field,” he said. “The reliability numbers are well above our threshold requirements and continuing to grow.”
The system has an exceptionally low false alarm rate, he said. “And ATIRCM has 100 percent mission availability, not a single mission canceled because of aircraft survivability equipment.”
G-model Chinooks, produced for special operations forces, are not receiving ATIRCM, company officials said, and there are no plans right now to field the system on any other helicopters in the Army inventory.
BAE continues to make system improvements when possible, such as software improvements from warfighter feedback. This is a simple operation, Kirkpatrick said. Once approved by the necessary Army offices, the file is sent over secure links to the field, where it is downloaded, taken to the aircraft and plugged in.
Meanwhile, BAE fully plans to compete in any government plan to acquire a highly reliable, light-weight, low-cost laser-based countermeasure system protecting aircrew and aircraft.
While the company has not seen a Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) draft request for proposals, it expects it will offer CIRCM/Boldstroke–building on its developed and fielded technologies such as ATIRCM, and will incorporate multifunctional capability and a modular, scalable architecture, said Gerry Finnegan, business development on the CICRM program.
CIRCM offers the same performance as ATIRCM in a smaller, lighter package, Finnegan said. Using the knowledge gained from ATIRCM, the CIRCM solution will provide the same protection and more for the future.
The offering will not be something new, he said, but the “maturation and miniaturization” of systems we already have.
Meanwhile, BAE receives information on ATIRCM performance from the field: “all feedback from customer and from warfighter is that they’re very happy with the system in every aspect,” Kirkpatrick said.