The U.S. Army awarded Northrop Grumman a $35 million contract to begin development of a laser-based countermeasures system that will eventually protect hundreds of helicopters and other aircraft from missile threats. The service expects to begin fielding the Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) system for both Army and Marine Corps aircraft in 2019.

The contract the Department of Defense announced on August 28 signals the end of the program’s technology maturation and risk-reduction phase, during which Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems participated. Barring a protest of the contract award, Northrop Grumman now advances to the engineering and manufacturing development phase. The contract includes an option for low-rate initial production, known as Milestone C, which could begin in late 2017.

The CIRCM system is designed to jam man-portable air defense systems and infrared-guided threats that sense an aircraft’s heat signature. It works in conjunction with the Army’s existing common missile warning system, which will detect an incoming threat and pass information to the CIRCM system.

Interviewed by the Army News Service earlier this year, Col. Jong Lee, project manager for aircraft survivability equipment, said the service plans to acquire roughly 3,000 wiring harnesses known as “A-Kits” and 1,000 “B-Kits” consisting of the primary CIRCM hardware: a pointer/tracker unit, laser and processor unit. The system will enter the field on Army AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as well as the Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor. It will eventually replace the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures system on the Army’s CH-47 Chinook, Lee said.

Northrop Grumman issued the following statement by Jeff Palombo, sector vice president of land and self protection systems:

“The U.S. Army’s selection of Northrop Grumman and our industry partners, Daylight Solutions of San Diego, and Selex ES, of Edinburgh, Scotland, for the CIRCM program is a critical next step toward protecting rotary-wing and medium fixed-wing aircraft against emerging infrared missile threats of today and tomorrow by augmenting existing self-protection systems with a directed laser jamming capability. We have outlined a path to superior aircraft protection through highly reliable performance and operation, a commitment to modular open systems architecture, and the ability to seamlessly integrate new technology.”