Next Generation Rotorcraft ASE Systems Reserved for Newer ...

Next Generation Rotorcraft
ASE Systems Reserved
for Newer Platforms
By John Haystead
A truism of all military endeavors is that priorities
and plans will necessarily change. So it is that,
as we begin the current decade, it’s clear that the
DOD’s path forward for providing comprehensive
helicopter self-protection has turned away from an
all-inclusive single-solution approach toward one
that provides the most effective EW capability possible,
for as many platforms as possible, as soon
as possible. The reasons for this are many, with
the reality of looming budget cuts certainly leading
the way, but another clear reality is the impracticality
of trying to shoehorn a new, single-system EW
solution into a wide array of disparate rotary-wing
platforms, many of which are slated for near- and
mid-term retirement.
This means that the two major nextgeneration
aircraft survivability equipment (ASE) systems, the
Navy-led Joint and Allied Threat Awareness System
(JATAS) and the Army’s Common Infrared
Countermeasures (CIRCM) systems will likely be
fielded on fewer platforms. Instead, the primary military
rotorcraft users, the Army and Navy/Marines
are taking a close look at their inventory of current
and planned helicopter platforms, and making an
upfront determination of which are best served by a
tailored upgrade of their existing ASE systems, and
which can efficiently, and cost-effectively, incorporate
the next-generation capability.
That said, the overriding and immediate objective
for all the Services remains the same – providing
improved warning and protection for all their
rotary-wing platforms, particularly against IR-missiles
as well as unguided weapon systems, such
as rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and small
arms. In terms of technology, this means improved
UV, IR or multi-spectral-detection, laser-warning,
hostile fire indication (HFI), and countermeasures
that include flares, directed IR countermeasures
and radar jammers.
US ARMY AND THE AAR-57
For the Army, the class of rotorcraft now
tagged for upgrade of their current ASE system
Reprint Courtesy of Journal of Electronic Defense (March 2012)
includes platforms already
equipped with
the BAE Systems
(Nashua, NH) AAR-
57(V) Common Missile
Warning System
(CMWS). At the present time, the Army has no
plans to acquire the JATAS system. Says, COL
John Leapheart, Army Program Director, Aircraft
Survivability Equipment (PM-ASE), “It would be
irresponsible at this point in time, given the economic
environment and some of the cuts coming
across the entire DOD, to throw away the very
large investment we’ve made in CMWS and some
other systems in order to bring a new truly-integrated
system onto the current generation of aircraft.
My guidance to the team is that anything we
do must fit inside the existing ASE footprint onboard
the aircraft. So, we’re not looking to bring a
new system onto an existing aircraft. We want to
drive integration amongst the systems that are
already there.”
The Army is now completing testing of the latest
CMWS software release, which includes a new
HFI function developed under a Quick Reaction
Capability (QRC) program. This functionality will
be fielded together with the Gen III Electronic Control
Unit (ECU), the next-generation processor for
the CMWS. The new ECU also potentially allows
for additional ASE functionality processing such as
radar and laser warning, as well as for directed IR
countermeasures. Leapheart says every platform
that currently has the CMWS will get the GEN III
ECU and, as a result, the HFI QRC. “We’ll start
deployment in theater in May of 2012, giving us
limited hostile fire capability against small arms
and RPGs, and the increased processing power
provided by the GEN III ECU will also allow us to
expand the threat data base as well as look at
other areas for future ASE integration.”
Although, the FY2012 defense spending bill
includes a cut in AAR-57 procurement funding
from $162.8M to $104.3M, Leapheart says “the
cut primarily impacts fixed-wing aircraft, where
there have been issues with sensor placement
etc., rather than helicopters.”
US NAVY AND THE AAR-47
Similarly, the US Navy is working to upgrade
its AAR-47 MWS installed on Navy and Marine
helicopters. Says CAPT Paul Overstreet, Navy
Program Manager for Advanced Tactical Aircraft
Protection Systems (PMA-272), “Open architectures,
like that of the next-generation JATAS, are
key (to higher levels of integration), but we have a
tremendous amount of legacy equipment and
platforms out there, so the decision is that platforms
that are being phased out like the AH-1W
and the older UH-1s are not going to get JATAS.”
Built by ATK Defense Electronics Systems
(Clearwater, FL), the UV-sensor-based AAR-47
consists of four sensor units oriented about the
aircraft, providing 360-degree protection. In addition
to providing aircrew warning, the system’s
processor cues an onboard flare dispenser (ALE-
39, ALE-40 or ALE-47.) In some aircraft, control
and indication are integrated into the AN/APR-39
radar warning receiver controls and displays.
The latest variant of the system, the AAR-
47B(V)2 provides improved missile and laser
warning, as well as an HFI capability. According to
Bill Kasting, VP and General Manager of ATK Defense
Electronics Systems, “Modifications have
been made to some of the filtering functions in the
sensor itself and some of the detection algorithms
were also modified to provide a lower false alarm
rate in higher clutter environments.” A new control
indicator incorporating the laser warning capability
is also provided for aircraft not equipped with an
APR- 39. Says Kasting, “Over the last three years,

we’ve been in the process of upgrading nearly all
fielded AAR-47 systems to the B(V)2 configuration.”
RF WARNING AND THE APR-39
Of all the ASE systems in service, the Northrop
Grumman AN/APR-39 RWR, in its many versions,
has to be the most widely installed across the DOD
rotary-wing fleet, and the longest-lived. To date,
over 6,000 APR-39 systems have been installed on
both US and international rotorcraft platforms including
the AH-1W/Z, UH-1N/Y, MV-22B, UH-60,
OH-58D, CH-46/47/53, and AH-64A/D. Although,
as observed by Overstreet, in recent conflicts such
as Iraq and Afghanistan, RF threats have not proven
as significant as IR and small arms fire for helicopter
platforms, “who knows what the future will
bring.”
Already, the Libyan conflict has highlighted this
point, but perhaps of even greater significance to
the importance of the APR-39, is the role it plays on
many helicopter platforms in also integrating and
displaying warning data from other ASE sensors
and systems. Integrated with both laser and missile
warning systems, the newer versions of the APR-
39 are increasingly serving as the overall controller
for a helicopter’s ASE suite.
Jeff Palombo, Northrop Grumman VP and General
Manager, Land and Self Protection Systems
Division (Rolling Meadows, IL), says this is one of
the larger next-capability functions for the AN/ APR-
39. Working through the company’s Rotorcraft Avionics
Innovation Laboratory (RAIL), Palombo says
Northrop Grumman has been continually working
to utilize and improve the APR- 39’s capabilities as
an integrated ASE suite controller. “We’ve already
demonstrated the ability to utilize all the targeted
analog hardware on existing platforms, piping their
information into a same-form-factor APR-39 where
it is fused with the data from other sensors to provide
an unambiguous, single set of threat information
to the pilot.” In 2010, the Army awarded
Northrop Grumman a $450M IDIQ contract to upgrade
770 APR-39s to the new configuration.In ad-
dition, the Naval Air Systems Command announced
last March that it intends to award a new sole
source contract to Northrop Grumman to upgrade
the APR-39 to a new AN/APR-39D(V)2 configuration.
As described by Overstreet, “It’s essentially an
ECP to the current system that corrects some current
deficiencies and provides greater capability,
but meets the same size and weight requirements
of the current system.” As part of the upgrade, the
39D(V2) will incorporate a new digital receiver to
handle environments that include greater threat
densities as well as more commercial and civilian
emitters that must be sorted from the threats. “It’s
one of the first forays into digital receivers in a small
form factor for the helicopter community,” says
Overstreet. “We’re leveraging our current APR-39
production requirements for new helicopters and
new MV-22s to upgrade to digital.” The MV-22 is
the lead platform to receivethe upgrade.
Although the Navy and Marines don’t currently
have a jamming requirement for their rotary-wing
aircraft, the size and
weight savings offered
by the digital receiver
design raises the possibility
of an electronic
attack capability being
incorporated into the
APR-39D(V2) configuration.
In fact, the Army
has expressed interest
in just that. Says Leapheart,
“This is a great
example of how the
Services can work together.
We’re watching
the Navy’s effort very
closely and hope to be able to get funding in the
2014-18 timeframe to follow in the same path, both
in terms of the digital RWR as well as having the
potential to expand it into a jammer.”
THE JOINT AND ALLIED THREAT AWARE-
NESS SYSTEM (JATAS)
When the Navy conceived its Joint and Allied
Threat Awareness System (JATAS) program
several years ago, it planned to replace most of
its AAR-47 RWRs, (as well as all of its AAR-57s
and Northrop Grumman AAR-54s), with the nextgeneration
system that could perform missile warning,
laser warning and HFI. The Navy expected
that fleet-wide installation of a common IR threat
warning system would achieve modernization
while limiting sustainment costs. However, the cost
of buying and installing enough JATAS systems to
cover most of the US Navy and USMC rotary-wing
fleets is no longer viable in the constrained DOD
budget. Overstreet now notes that “JATAS is designed
for the smaller platforms” and says, beyond
the lead MV-22B “Osprey” integration platform and
Marine AH-1Z “Viper” and UH-1Y “Venom” helicopters,
additional JATAS installations will be made on
a “to-be-determined” basis. “JATAS is targeted for
the newer platforms, older platforms will not get JA-
TAS, but those platforms will be phasing out,” says
Overstreet.
In addition, Overstreet says that, although the
Navy is configuring JATAS to be compatible with
Army platforms as well, the Army is not currently
committed to acquiring it. “The Army is not part of
our acquisition strategy in terms of procurement.
We are funded and planned for Navy and Marine
Corps platforms only. In the event that the Army
does decide to equip their helicopters with a new
MWS, however, OSD had directed that it must be
JATAS.”
JATAS is a two-color-IR-based system and, unlike
the AAR-47, does not incorporate a UV component.
Overstreet notes that “UV has challenges in
false alarm rate, range and operation in high-clutter
areas, making it unsuitable for use over urban areas.
Though we’ve largely corrected this with the
AAR-47B(V)2, it’s still an issue, and the fleet highly
emphasizes low false-alarm rate.” As described by
ATK’s Kasting, “the AAR-47 sensor is a single-pixel
staring array that identifies only the quadrant that
you are being attacked from, while the JATAS multispectral
imaging IR sensor can calculate angle-ofarrival
(AOA) and pinpoint the specific ground location
of the threat. JATAS also provides a significant
increase in HFI capability and laser detection over
what the AAR-47 has today.” Kasting adds that,
since JATAS was designed from the outset to be
form-fit-and-function compatible with the AAR-47,
it will make integration across the fleet that much
easier. “And, since both the hardware and software
architecture is completely open, it will also be easier
to integrate with other future capabilities over
time.”
Overstreet agrees that open architectures are
key to higher levels of integration. “As new aircraft
like the CH-53K, the new mission computer for the
MV-22, and the open-architecture CIRCM system
come along, this will enable us to do true plug and
play. We’ll be able to integrate many more systems
than we can now with the legacy systems. This is
where the ‘glass cockpit’ display will really come
into play.”
JATAS interfaces with the existing AN/ALE-47
Countermeasures Dispensing System (CMDS) as
well as the Department of the Navy (DoN) Large
Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system,
and CIRCM. Though the system is designed
to be controlled by the host platform’s mission computer
and multifunction displays, in some cases,
control and indication for the JATAS will still be
through the AN/APR-39.
According to Overstreet, “The most basic integration
may use the existing APR-39 as a bus
controller and display head, but it’s a much more
advanced integration as we get away from the
APR-39 to mission computers and cockpit displays,
as with the MV-22 integration. Future integration
may tie JATAS to helmet displays like those in the
AH-1Z attack helicopter.”
A critical design review for JATAS is planned
for May of this year, and the First EMD model hardware
is scheduled to be delivered at the end of
December for integration on the MV-22B, at which
time it will also have an official military nomenclature.
First flight tests are planned for March of
2013, Low-rate initial production (LRIP) deliveries
are scheduled for early 2015, and initial operational
capability (IOC) is planned for later that year.
ACTIVE COUNTERMEASURES: LAIRCM
In general, the US military currently has four
active Directed IR Countermeasure (DIRCM) programs
at some stage of implementation. For large
rotorcraft, these include the Air Force’s (AAQ-
24(V) Large Aircraft IR Countermeasure (LAIRCM)
system, and the follow-on Department of the Navy
(DoN) LAIRCM effort. Since both of these systems
are produced by Northrop Grumman, they tend to
incorporate similar technology and sensor configurations.
Says Northrop Grumman’s Palombo, “Essentially
what we provide with LAIRCM and DoN LAIR-
CM is an open architecture system that enables our
customers to work with us to select the best capability
for their specific application. For example, the
USMC customer has a five-sensor solution on their
CH-53s that are in a podded configuration, allowing
the system to be transferred from aircraft to aircraft
to save costs.” To date, LAIRCM has been integrated
with five different missile warning systems, as
well multiple jam heads, cockpit displays and other
platform-specific subsystems.
Together, the Navy and Marine Corps are equipping
156 CH-53D, CH-53E and CH-46E transport
helicopters with DoN LAIRCM systems. The system
includes the Northrop Grumman “Viper” laser,
as well as the Guardian Laser Transmitter Assembly
and the AAR-54 missile warning system. The
Navy has contracted with Northrop Grumman to
begin replacing the DoN LAIRCM system’s UV missile
warning sensors with two-color IR Advanced
Threat Warning (ATW) sensors. Along the lines of
JATAS multifunctionality, ATW sensors will enable
the DoN LAIRCM system to perform missile warning,
laser warning and HFI, as well as potentially
provide video for situational awareness.
According to Palombo, “Through the ATW
multi-function sensor, we’ve been able to continually
physically shrink the hardware while providing
additional capability in the same form factor. This
approach allows you to remove other platform sensors
and their associated processors, potentially
saving 40-50 lbs on a helicopter platform.” Says
Overstreet, “The information is much more precise
with obviously lower false alarm rates. It’s probably
the most capable missile warning system out there
until JATAS comes on line together with a very capable
IR jammer.” A critical design review (CDR)
of the ATW sensor has been completed, and it will
go into flight test later this year. Overstreet says
it should be made available to the fleet sometime
next year.
Northrop Grumman is also now in production
on a new missile warning system design for the US
Air Force’s LAIRCM program. The USAF awarded
the company a $79 million contract last year for the
“NexGen MWS,” which will be installed on Air Force
Special Operations Command CV-22s, as well as
C-17, C-130 and C-5 aircraft.
ATIRCM
In the meantime, for the Army, the BAE Systems’
AN/ALQ-212(V) Advanced Threat IR Countermeasures
System (ATIRCM) continues to play
a role for that Service’s larger rotorcraft platforms.
In September of last year, the Army increased the
number of CH-47s that will be fitted with the ALQ-
212 ATIRCM from 83 helicopters to 120. As described
by Leapheart, “ATIRCM has enjoyed higher
reliability than anyone thought it would, with reliability
numbers in theater three-to-four times projections.
Because of this, we’ve actually been able
to pull spare LRUs off the shelf and assemble end
items to equip some of the CH-47s in advance of
the production units. We don’t want any CH-47s in
theater flying without that protection aboard.” Leapheart,
expects this will be the final procurement for
ATIRCM, so as units rotate home, the Army will rely
on a plan to regularly transfer its existing inventory
of ATIRCM systems to deploying aircraft.
CIRCM
The big EW news of the year thus far is the
Army’s awarding of two Technology Development
(TD) contracts for the Common Infrared Countermeasures
(CIRCM) system. Northrop Grumman
($31.4 million) and BAE Systems ($38 million)
received the awards on January 31 to develop
the next-generation countermeasures system for
rotary-wing, tilt-rotor, and small fixed wing aircraft
across the DOD. The 21-month TD phase contracts
include both cost plus fixed-fee (CPFF) and firmfixed
price (FFP) elements and will utilize competitive
prototyping.
The open-architecture, lightweight (85-lb max.),
laser-based countermeasure system is intended
to protect aircraft from all types of IR-guided missiles,
especially man-portable air defense systems
(MANPADS) such as the SA-7, -14, -16, -18 and
-24. An alternative to the larger and heavier LAIR-
CM and ATIRCM systems, the baseline CIRCM will
be fully integrated with an ASE suite that includes
passive missile warning, an improved countermeasures
dispenser, and advanced expendables.
Ultimately, CIRCM may have additional capabilities
as well, such as “dazzling” to counter small
arms fire, and laser-based inter-helicopter communication.
As explained by Colonel Leapheart, the
actual capabilities development document (CDD)
for CIRCM won’t be due until the follow-on Milestone
B, Engineering Manufacturing Development
(EMD) phase. “In the TD phase we’ll be looking at
where the technology is, the designs being brought
forward by the vendors, as well as opportunities to
provide some of these other capabilities. They’re
not part of the current requirement, but we anticipate
that, as we go through the TD phase, we’ll
do some exploration on those capabilities and see
how feasible it is at that time to make those a requirement
for CIRCM – maybe not as an initial capability,
but as part of evolutionary growth.”
Says Northrop Grumman’s Jeff Palombo, “CIR-
CM has the opportunity to do a lot of things, but it all
depends on what the customer asks for. For us, the
linchpin is our open-system architecture that allows
for the integration of systems and equipment, not
only from Northrop Grumman, but others as well.
For example, Daylight Solutions (San Diego, CA)
is providing the laser, and Selex Galileo (Lincoln,
UK) is providing the jam head for our CIRCM system.
So, if the Government asks us to put ‘different
light’ through the CIRCM jam head – i.e., a potential
dazzle capability, or to provide for laser communication
– we can enable our system to do this.”
As reported in the January 2012 JED, the Army
has said it wants to equip 1,075 Apache, Black
Hawk, upgraded Kiowa Warrior and other helicopters
with the CIRCM system, while the Navy and
Marine Corps are looking for a system suitable for
their SH-60, AH-1Z, and other rotorcraft platforms.
However, with a first-unit- equipped date now
pushed out to the first quarter of FY19, the actual
mix and number of platforms receiving CIRCM
could vary dramatically.
INTEGRATED ASE – THE SHAPE OF THE
FUTURE
As improvements to existing systems and the
development and deployment of the next generation
of ASE equipment continues, the Services and
industry are already looking ahead to the requirements,
design and development of the next generation
capability. Leapheart says the Army sees
this as a two-phase effort. “The difference between
the two really comes down to the generation of aircraft
you’re talking about – what you can do on the
current generation of aircraft and what you can do
on the next, i.e., Joint Multi-Role (JMR) rotorcraft,
Joint Vertical Heavy Lift and other new development
efforts like the Air Force-led Joint Future Theater
Lift (JFTL) effort.”
In September of last year, the Army reorganized
its PM-ASE project office toward this objective,
including the creation of an Assistant Product
Reprint Courtesy of Journal of Electronic Defense (March 2012) Reprint Courtesy of Journal of Electronic Defense (March 2012)

Manager for Integrated ASE to reach out to and
work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) and Army Research Lab
(ARL) and some other organizations that are doing
long term science and technology (S&T) projects.
Says Leapheart, “The purpose is to envision what
an integrated solution will look like – multispectral
sensor array, multispectral countermeasures, and
a processing stack that glues it all together. We
want to build the foundation for that now both from
an S&T and from a programmatic perspective.”
Leapheart warns that “when you’re talking
about integrated ASE, you have to be careful about
the definition of integration you’re using.“ From the
Army’s perspective, Leapheart says this involves
three areas, the first being sensor and threat correlation.
“Right now there are instances that, because
of different sensor arrays onboard the aircraft picking
up the same threat based on different phenomenology
and from different parts of the spectrum,
you might see multiple icons showing up on the
screen that all represent the same threat. We have
to figure out how to correlate this sensor data to
give the aircrew a single icon on the screen for that
single threat.”
Leapheart refers to the second piece of integration
as suite control. “How do we set up the processing
that automatically detects and determines
the type of threat and the proper countermeasure
and deployment timeline?” The final piece is platform
integration. “For the digital ‘glass cockpits,’
this means leveraging the existing multifunction
displays, while with non-digital cockpits, we want
to, as a minimum, ensure that any additional display
integrates into the existing capabilities as
much as possible.”
Later this year, the Communications Electronics
Research & Development & Engineering Center
(CERDEC) Intelligence and Information Warfare
Directorate (I2WD) at Aberdeen Proving Ground,
MD, will be releasing a Broad Area Announcement
(BAA), inviting industry to demonstrate integrated
ASE solutions as they are today. As described by
Leapheart, “We want to bring a number of them into
the integrated ASE lab that we’re building there and
do some side-by-side comparisons to see what the
state of the art really is out there today. The objective
is to hopefully build a strategy in an incremental
fashion that will shorten the timeline for getting an
integrated solution deployed across the fleet and
that we can build on in future years.”
The Navy is also heavily focused on greater levels
of integration, which Overstreet says is going to
happen fairly quickly. The Navy has demonstrations
planned with the Marine Corps for later this year.
“It’s not just on ‘PowerPoint,’ we’re actually flying
and demonstrating concepts with the Marine Corps
tactics squadrons and getting input from them.” Like
the Army, Overstreet recognizes the limitations of
Reprint Courtesy of Journal of Electronic Defense (March 2012)
current aircraft displays. “A few years ago, all you
had was the AAR-47 and the APR-39, which you
didn’t really need to worry about too much because
you were flying in a low-RF threat environment,” he
explains. “Now, you’re getting to JTAS, or an AAR-
47 with HFI, together with the APR-39, and the
last thing you want is RF and IR threat indications
stacked on top of each other. In terms of integrating
it all, the biggest challenge is still getting the displays
to deliver accurate and timely information to
the aircrew so they can react accordingly. As long as
you get open architecture processors, you should
be able to fuse data and put it anywhere, but it’s
a problem for the older
cockpits. But, for platforms
that can handle
this capability, you’re
going to see integrated
ASE fairly soon,” he
says.
All of this is, of course,
being monitored closely
by industry. Bill Staib,
BAE Systems’ Product
Line Director for Threat
Management Solutions,
observes that “the overriding
mantra we hear
from both the Army and
Navy is that new sensors
have to earn their way onto the platform. You can’t
have a dedicated sensor that does just one thing;
it has to provide multiple competencies to the overall
survivability suite.” Staib says one area BAE is
looking at in this regard is expanding the traditional
definition of ASE to include not only offensive threats
like missiles and RPGs, but operational threats as
well – for example helping the aircrew operate in
degraded visual environments, avoiding terrain obstacles,
other aircraft etc., by better fusing data from
existing or different sensors for some of these operational
threats.
Northrop Grumman’s Palombo says the task
has to be undertaken in at least two different bites,
with the first bite addressing the desire for integrated
ASE on existing aircraft. “The trick is to be able
to do this without adding new hardware, weight and
cost to the platforms, and this is why we’ve concentrated
on a solution where the APR-39 serves as
an integrated suite controller. Almost 100 percent
of helicopters flying have an APR-39, and for legacy
aircraft with analog cockpits, the APR-39 can
provide this integrated capability and more. For example,
through the RAIL, we’ve demonstrated that
you can send information directly from an APR-39
to a targeting pod where you can then designate
that threat as a target.”
Going forward, Palombo agrees that, as new
platforms come along, with integrated multi-func-
tion sensors, there will be a “natural movement to
true integrated ASE.” Pointing to Northrop Grumman’s
parallel work on open-architecture digital
cockpits and mission computers, he observes that
this is also a valid approach in many cases to providing
integrated ASE, “which is why we’ve been
providing the source code to our customers so they
can be more autonomous.”
BAE’s Staib says the question of where the required
processing power will reside, whether in a
mission computer or ASE system, or somewhere
else, is exactly what the Army and Navy are trying
to figure out. “Most of the survivability systems al-
ready on the platforms have some type of processing
capability. The question is how to best utilize
this capacity? We’re doing some preliminary work
to identify what types of architectures and standard
interfaces can be developed that can be universally
adopted and designed to, and that will adhere to
our vision of sensor agnosticism. The Army is also
doing a good job of trying to lay the groundwork
by trying to establish some standards within which
industry can operate.”
At ATK, Kasting says an important focus area
is greater levels of integration across the board,
“not only of those systems and sensors onboard
the platforms themselves, but as part of an integrated,
netted set of capabilities. We’re investing
in new sensor technologies beyond two-color IR, to
include acoustic, uncooled IR, and other technologies.
The more multi-spectral sensor technology
we bring to the table, the more accurate the total
data picture we can provide, and the best answer
to the requirement we can deliver.”
Whatever “ultimate” approach is adopted, given
the nature of the continually evolving threat, the
simultaneous evolution of detection and countermeasure
technology, and the overriding demand
to immediately and efficiently integrate and deliver
critical threat information to the aircrew, rotorcraft
self-protection will continue to be a challenging and
complex workin-progress.