Christine Thropp
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $146 million order to equip domestic and international military aircraft with a system designed to automatically detect and defeat emerging missile threats.
Northrop said Friday it will install Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasure systems on fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms, as part of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with USAF.
The LAIRCM uses high-intensity technology and works by beaming a laser into the infrared seeker of a missile to disable the threat.
Bob Gough, vice president of navigation, targeting and survivability at Northrop, said the company has a 25-year history of equipping Air Force platforms with anti-missile threat systems and will continue to do so in an effort to help safeguard aircrews.
Over 1,500 aircraft, including the C-17, C-5, C-130J, P-8, CH-53K, KC-46 platforms, are fitted with Northrop-built countermeasure systems that are meant to provide detection, tracking and jamming capabilities.
The company received a separate $115 million contract in April to manufacture LAIRCM systems for the Department of the Navy.
