Finmeccanica‘s Selex Galileo recently announced the results of recent U.S. government reliability and characterization tests demonstrated the maturity of the latest infrared countermeasure system ECLIPSE, developed with Northrop Grumman [NOC].
The ECLIPSE pointer tracker provides a low risk approach to protecting the U.S. Army’s fixed and rotary wing fleet from surface to air missile threats.
The benefit, experience and lessons learned from over 20 years of aircraft protection have influenced the design and development of the fifth generation, lightweight, low cost pointer tracker. With low mass, low power, minimal airstream intrusion and a predicted mean time between failures greater than 3,000 hours, the company said
ECLIPSE offers an ideal solution for the Common InfraRed CounterMeasures program.
SELEX Galileo and Northrop Grumman have a proven track record of meeting Urgent Operational Requirements and Quick Reaction Contracts, the company said in a statement. With a flexible, established and proven manufacturing and support capacity, SELEX Galileo has successfully produced and supported over 1200 pointer trackers to date.
SELEX Galileo supports existing Directed Infrared Counter Measure pointer trackers through facilities in both the United States and United Kingdom. In March, the company announced it won a U.K. competition and will supply the ECLIPSE pointer-tracker and Type 160 Infrared Counter Measure.
“We are confident that our experienced partnership with Northrop Grumman can meet the Amy’s program and delivery timescales, said Alastair Morrison, senior vice president, Radar and Advanced Targeting at SELEX Galileo.