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June 29 (UPI) -- Armtec Countermeasures has received a $23 million contract from the Navy in support of the Air Expendable Countermeasures Program. The AECP contract announced Wednesday by the Department of Defense falls under the Advanced Tactical Aircraft Protection Systems Program Office. The contract contains a one year option that if exercised will bring the total value of the contract to $48.5 million.
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Work will be conducted in Camden, Ariz., and is projected to be complete by Dec. 2020. If the contract option is invoked, work will continue into 2021. Fiscal 2017 Air Force aircraft and ammunition procurement funds in the amount of $23 million will be obligated upon award.
Air expendable countermeasures are disposable devices dropped from aircraft to foil incoming enemy missiles, including chaff, flares, and radio-frequency jammers.
Chaff is a passive-jamming system intended to confuse radar seeker heads with clouds of metallic strips that reflect radar energy. Flares are heat sources to attract infrared guidance systems, while RF jammers scramble radio-frequency targeting beams.
Combined with electronic-warfare suites onboard either the aircraft itself or from support aircraft and evasive maneuvers, air expendable countermeasures are a primary defense against incoming enemy missiles.
The Advanced Tactical Aircraft Protection Systems Program Office operates under the Navy and is responsible for the development and acquisition of protective systems for tactical aircraft for the Navy, Marine Corps, and for some systems the Air Force.
