Mon, Aug 22, 2005
DHS Signs On For Airliner Defense System
Northrop Grumman Corporation says it's received approval from
the Department of Homeland Security of its design of anti-missile
system aimed at safekeeping commercial aircraft. The Guardian
protection system is a Counter-Man Portable Air Defense System
(Counter-MANPADS) intended to protect commercial aircraft from
attack by ground-based, shoulder-fired missiles.
The company recently passed the last of three critical design
reviews for its Guardian protection system, which is based on the
proven military directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM)
technology it currently has in production for the U.S. military and
several international customers. Northrop Grumman's commercial
DIRCM version is being developed under Phase II of the Department
of Homeland Security's Counter-MANPADS program.
The first of the design reviews involved hardware development,
while the second focused on software. The third, completed in
April, called for installing the system on an actual aircraft.
Northrop Grumman is now finalizing the fabrication and integration
of pre-production prototypes before it begins operational testing
and evaluation of its C-MANPADS aboard an MD-11 airliner later this
month and a Boeing 747 later this year.
"The successful completion of design work on our Guardian
counter-MANPADS system is a significant milestone, particularly
since we did so a full month ahead of schedule," said Bob Del Boca,
vice president of Infrared countermeasures and laser systems in
Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division. "We are well on our
way to obtaining FAA certification for our system and are looking
forward to proceeding to Phase III of the Department's
program."
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the
Counter-MANPADS program is focused on demonstrating the viability,
economics and effectiveness of adapting existing military
technology to protect commercial aircraft from the MANPADS threat.
Northrop Grumman's Guardian system makes use of multi-band laser
and other technology from the company's proven military
countermeasures system.
The Northrop Grumman DIRCM system operates automatically by
detecting a missile launch, determining if it is a threat and
activating a high-intensity infrared countermeasure system to track
and defeat the threat. The only such system currently in
production, Northrop Grumman's Nemesis AN/AAQ-24(V) is being
installed on several hundred military aircraft, including more than
20 different fixed- and rotary-wing platforms for the U.S. military
and several allied countries, including the United Kingdom,
Australia and Denmark.
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