Aeronautica & Difesa - Gennaio 2011 - ELT

domenica 1 maggio 2011 estratto da pag 30-30 .. .. ..
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interest in integrated IR countermeas·
ures suites for their fleets of transport
aircraft, tankers and special mission
aircraft, in addition to some fighters,
such as Tornados and f·16s.
In late 2010, Italy's General Directorate
for Air Armaments and Elettronica
approved an evolutionary directed IR
countermeasures (DIRCM) roadmap for
the Italian Air Force. The two signed
a contract under which Elettronica
wiU develop, integrate. test and manufacture
its ELT/572 laser·based DIRCM
system for installation on t he Italian
Air Force's C-27J Spartan and C-130J
transport aircraft, in addition to new
AgustaWestland AW-101 combat searchand-rescue
(CSAR) helicopters. Jointly
developed with Elbit of Israel's El-Op
subsidiary, the system uses a diodepurnped
solid-state fiber laser to feed
multiple jam heads, a concept the US
Army is also pursuing in its Common
IRCM (CIRCM) program. The two-turret
ELT/572 DIRCM system provides 360·de·
gree coverage and wiU be integrated
with Cassidian's AAR-60 MILDS II ultraviolet
missile warner, which is already
in service with the ltalian Air Force.
The ELT/572 is also slated for installation
on Italy's four ATR 72 maritime
patrol aircraft currently in production
and its four Boeing KC-767A tankers. in
addition to VIP aircraft and other rotary-wing
platforms. The new DIRCM will
also be integrated on C-27Js as part of
an EW suite that includes Elettronica's
AR-3C ESM system, Cassidian's AAR-60
MILDS Il, Selex Galileo's RALM Ol/V2
laser warner and the ECSD-2 countermeasures
dispenser from Italian manufacturer
MES, which is also installed
on military aircraft in the air forces of
Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania.
The Spanish Air Force plans to buy
the MANTA DIRCM system from domestic
defense giant Indra. MANTA uses a relatively
large but powerful chemicallaser
supplied by Russia's Rosoboronexport,
enabling the system to feature closedloop
performance, which is generally
more effective against IR threat rnissiles.
Since 2010, lndra has been conducting
MANTA flight evaluations on a
C-212 test aircraft against ground-based
IR seekers. Although its test schedule is
being stretched out due to reductions
in Spain's defense budget. MANTA is expected
to be installed on Spanish Airbus
A-310 VIP and C-295 aircraft, and later
on the A400M strategie transport aircraft.
In the meantime, Indra is working
with the Ilyushin Russian aircraft bureau
to certify the systern installation
on Il-76 strategie transports for both
military and civil markets.
Indra has also been selected to provide
the RWR/ESM for the A400M, which
is moving forward again after the seven
partner nations recently signed a contract
amendment with EADS. With 170
firm orders from the seven nations -
Belgium, France, Gerrnany, Luxemburg,
Spain, Turkey and the UX for 170 aircraft.
and an additional four from Malaysia,
the A400M will be equipped with
an EW suite that includes Indra's ALR-
400M RWR, the MIRAS (Multi-color Infrared
Alerting Sensors) missile warner
from Thales and Cassidian, and MBDA's
Saphir-400 CMDS. At this stage of the
program, the A400M's EW suite doesn't
include a specified DIRCM solution. Instead,
each customer wiU choose its
DIRCM suite separately. Indra has developed
the MIRAS for Spain's A400Ms;The
UK is likely to opt for a Selex-Northrop
Grumman solution based on the AA0-24
DIRCM in service with the US and the
UK. Cassidian, Thales, Sagem and Diehl
BGT Defence have been collaborating on
r-r-n
FFR
eco
development of the FLASH (Flying Laser
self-defense Systern Against IR Seeker
Head), a closed-loop DIRCM that carries
out threat confirrnation, identification,
jamrning a.nd defeat assessment.
While many European DIRCM prograrns
remain in development, Saab
has scored some recent success with its
flare-based Civil Aircraft Missile Protection
System (CAMPS). In March the
company received a CAMPS order from
charter airline FlyMex based in Mexico.
Under this contract the CAMPS will be
installed on Fairchild Dornier 328-300
and Embraer ERJ-135 aircraft flying on
behalf of the UN World Food Program t o
countries such as Iraq, Sudan and Somalia,
where IR MANPADS could be encountered.
CAMPS is already in operational
service on two types of aircraft, Lockheed's
L-382 and Embraer's EMB-120.
NATO operations in Afghanistan have
also driven IRCM requirements for legacy
strike aircraft, such as the Tornado.
The UK and Germany selected Terma A/S
(Lystrup, Denmark) w h ile Italy has chosen
Saab to previde external IRCM pods
to protect their Tornado aircraft against
IR MANPADS. In 2007, Terma developed
the Special Dispensing System (SDS) for
German Tornado aircraft that deployed
to Afghanistan the following year, enabling
them to fly low-altitude reconnaissance
missions inside the JR threat
envelope. Based on the compa.ny's under-wing
Modular Countermeasures Pod
(MCP) and tailored for the Luftwaffe's
Tornados on a three-month quick-reaction
basis, the SDS featured eight flare
dispensers per pod, as weU as a pointed
nose and fins for supersonic flight. In
2009, Terma performed another quickreaction
program for RAF GR4 Tornados.
This effort leveraged the MCP and added
missile warning in addition to the flare
dispensers. In both programs, the company's
ALQ-213 EW Management System
served as the suite controUer. Also in
2009, Saab upgraded BOZ-102C dispenser
pods which were already in use on Italian
Air Force Tornados. This upgrade
provided them with the company's
MAW-300 missile warner, multiple BOP
dispenser units and a suite controller.
Panavia has also been conducting
a planned mid-life upgrade of the Tornado's
RF EW system. In Gerrnany, the