Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON
The US Navy has conducted the first live-fire test of laser missile jamming systems suitable for installation on fast-jet combat aircraft. The UK observed the trials, conducted under the Navy's Tactical Aircraft Directed Infrared Countermeasures (TADIRCM) advanced technology demonstrator programme.
Prototype systems developed by Lockheed Martin Sanders and Northrop Grumman were evaluated in 20 surface-to-air and air-to-air infrared guided missile firings at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
The systems were mounted on a stationary cable car, beneath which was suspended a helicopter hulk with heat sources simulating an aircraft target. Sanders provided its Agile Eye laser "jam-head" and a two-colour infrared missile warning system. Northrop Grumman supplied its Wanda jam-head with Viper multi-band laser and a two-colour missile warning sensor.
Both systems were required to detect and track all launches, but each was allowed to jam only certain missiles. Northrop Grumman says its system jammed four surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)of two types, with two launches at 3km range and two at 4.7km, giving in a "more than adequate" miss distance. The other launches, at ranges up to 16km, were detected and tracked. The system "exceeded expectations", the company says.
Sanders says it jammed three SAM shots and "demonstrated the first successful laser jamming of advanced air-to-air infrared guided missiles". In two tests, the unidentified missile was fired from a Boeing F-15 at 7km range and acquired and jammed by the TADIRCM, resulting in a miss distance of 5km.
Developed with US Navy funding, Sanders' TADIRCM is an all-laser next-generation derivative of the lamp-and-laser Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures system, scheduled to enter production shortly to equip US Army helicopters. Northrop Grumman's Wanda is a private-venture system incorporating the Viper laser developed to upgrade its AAQ-24(V) lamp-based DIRCM.
The US Navy plans further TADIRCM tests next year, initially mounting the system on a sled for dynamic testing then conducting live missile shots against a QF-4 drone equipped with the system. Northrop Grumman hopes to participate. The USN hopes to begin engineering and manufacturing development in 2002.
The compact all-laser system developed for tactical aircraft use is being considered for the USAir Force's Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures programme, under which it plans to develop a DIRCM system for the Boeing C-17 and other transports.
• Lockheed Martin has received a $24 million USAF contract to install Northrop Grumman AAQ-24(V)6 DIRCM systems on 59 special operations C-130s. The system is in production already for the UK armed forces.
Source: Flight International
