US Army/Northrop Grumman Programme Reaches End of Development and Testing

The Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) system, developed and tested by Northrop Grumman in collaboration with the US Army, has achieved Milestone C, the company announced on 24 September. This milestone marks the end of the development and testing phase and enables the beginning of production and deployment.

CIRCM is a lightweight system that uses laser energy to defend aircraft against advanced infrared missiles. It has a modular, open systems architecture, designed to evolve to defeat emerging infrared threats.                                                               

To achieve Milestone C, Northrop Grumman has worked closely with the Army to thoroughly test CIRCM. The system has undergone thousands of hours of laboratory, flight and free-flight missile testing to verify its performance in a range of realistic combat scenarios. Throughout the process, CIRCM demonstrated its ability to protect aircrews by countering threats.

“With the achievement of Milestone C, we have collectively taken an important step toward getting this critical, life-saving technology to the warfighter,” commented Vice President, Land & Avionics C4ISR Division, Northrop Grumman, Bob Gough. “The CIRCM capability is mature, reliable and has proven to be mission-effective.”

Northrop Grumman’s infrared countermeasures systems have been installed on more than 1,500 aircraft, representing more than 80 different aircraft types, including large and small fixed-wing, rotary wing and tilt-rotor platforms.