System for Ninth Aircraft to be Installed
Elbit Systems is to supply additional J-MUSIC directed infra-red countermeasures (DIRCM) self-protection systems to the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) fleet, the company announced on 13 April.
The company will deliver a J-MUSIC system to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency NSPA to equip the ninth and final A330 MRTT aircraft for the fleet. Designed with an open architecture and integrating the company’s IR-based passive airborne warning system (PAWS IR), the system provides operators with the latest laser technology, together with a high frame-rate thermal camera and a small, dynamic high-speed sealed-mirror turret, thus offering high performance defence against IR missile threats.
The multinational fleet is a pooling and sharing initiative consisting of nine MRTT able to provide strategic transport, air-to-air refueling and medical evacuation capabilities to its six participating nations (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway). The aircraft are owned by NATO and managed by NSPA, with the support of the Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) in the acquisition phase, until the end of 2022.
Having accumulated more than 300,000 operational flight hours and tested under fire, Elbit Systems’ family of DIRCM systems are in use by a range of customers onboard more than 25 aircraft types.