Aircraft Countermeasures and the Dual Spectral Threat

08 Sep 2006

Chemring’s Recent Order from UK MoD

Chemring Countermeasures recently announced the award of an initial order of £4.9 million for spectral flares from the UK MoD. These flares will play an important role in the protection of UK aircraft on deployed operations. Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) pose an ever present threat to deployed aircraft during military and extended peace-keeping operations, with helicopters and transport aircraft being particularly vulnerable.

This new flare was designed and developed in-house by Chemring over several years and the contract will be delivered by the summer of 2007. In order to achieve this delivery Chemring Countermeasures will invest approximately £1 million in new facilities to generate additional capacity in order to fulfill the UK MoD requirement. These additional facilities will employ the latest manufacturing technology to ensure the utmost safety to our operators and consistency of product quality. The dedicated production line for spectral flares is being designed not to interfere with the normal production of the more common MTV flares. However, the new dedicated line will be capable of switching to normal MTV production as and when required.

Chemring is a world leader in defensive countermeasures for land, sea and air. The countermeasures division comprises Chemring Countermeasures in the UK, and Alloy Surfaces Company, Inc. and Kilgore Flares Company LLC in the US.

Since the Vietnam War, Infra-Red (IR) seeking missiles have accounted for more than 50 percent of all aircraft losses in action (this figure was 78 percent during the Gulf War in 1991). As missile systems get smaller, cheaper and more man-portable, the need for effective Infra-Red Countermeasures (IRCMs) has never been greater.

There are estimated to be nearly 500,000 Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) worldwide. Whilst armed forces have generally been successful against radar guided missiles, the IR threat remains the most hidden and the most potent. In addition, the recent development of seeker technology has emerged from missile designers and manufacturers.

Currently, the EW community has turned its attention to the very latest dual spectral IR seeking MANPAD of which there is significant proliferation, particularly in geographical areas of major concern. This generation of MANPAD uses a dual sensor system that can discriminate between the low energy IR output of an aircraft and the high energy IR output of a classic magnesium based countermeasure flare. This ability to compare target energy with flare energy has provided the weapon with a counter-countermeasure (CCM), which is extremely effective and difficult to defeat.

Once again Chemring Countermeasures technical expertise has risen to the challenge in providing the answer. The manufacture of dual spectral flare countermeasures is already underway and these new flares are already being flown and successfully deployed by the differing types of aircraft. Chemring Countermeasures are currently looking to repackage these spectral flares in other formats (i.e. round flares) to satisfy a wider range of world-wide customers and aircraft types.