Leonardo has officially introduced its Multi-Aperture Infrared (MAIR) system, a distributed aperture capability that enables aircraft to be able to detect, track, and identify threats such as incoming missiles. Launched this week at the Paris Air Show, MAIR can be integrated onto a range of aircraft including fighters, rotorcraft, transport aircraft, surveillance types, and business jets, serving both as a missile warning and hostile fire indication system.

It uses multiple high-resolution IR cameras placed around an aircraft to provide spherical coverage, which are combined with the processing capability of Leonardo’s infrared search and track systems. These are also used on the Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen E.

Fabrizio Boggiani, senior v-p of airborne sensors and mission systems at Leonardo Electronics, told AIN that the company is now completing initial trials of the system. More testing is expected to be completed by year-end, culminating in it being production ready next year, he added.

It has been tested on a rotorcraft during the trials, Boggiani said, adding that the company has received its first contract from an undisclosed customer. Leonardo (Chalet 244) claims that the system offers a high probability of detection and early warning of incoming missiles with a low false alarm rate, including in heavily cluttered environments.

It can also be incorporated into a wider defensive aids suite, which upon detection can cue a countermeasure such as the company’s Miysis directed infrared countermeasure system.