PARIS, June 20 (UPI) -- The U.S.-made directional infrared countermeasures system used by U.S. and allied military aircraft has logged more than 1 million hours in service.
Northrop Grumman, the device's manufacturer, pointed out the milestone in a news release from the Paris air show.
"DIRCM continues to be the standard for military aircraft protection, a system that is most called upon to assure mission success and the safe return of our troops, as indicated by the 1 million operational hours milestone," said Jeff Palombo, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Land and Self Protection Systems Division.
"Northrop Grumman is not sitting back. We continue to invest in next-generation technology to keep us and our industry partners at the forefront of this capability.
"Of the more than 1 million hours accumulated to date, the majority have been logged under deployed and combat conditions, with an operational availability of over 99 percent for the past 13 consecutive years -- performance unequaled in industry."
The system functions automatically by detecting a missile launch, determining if it is a threat and then activating a high-intensity, laser-based counter-measures system to track and defeat the missile.
Northrop Grumman's IRCM systems are installed or scheduled for installation on several hundred military aircraft across the U.S. Department of Defense to protect about 50 different types of large, fixed-wing transports and rotary-wing platforms from infrared missile attacks.
