Northrop Grumman to integrate countermeasures system on aircraft for U.S., allies

May 1 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. was awarded a contract to integrate the U.S. Navy's Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures onto aircraft of the U.S. military and two allies.

The Department of Defense announced the contract, to be completed by June 2021 and not to exceed $132.2 million, on Tuesday.

The contract calls for obtaining the equipment, analysis and technical support required to integrate the Navy's LAIRCM system onto aircraft for the Army and Navy, as well as those of Britain and Norway.

LAIRCM is an active countermeasure to defeat threat missile guidance systems by directing a high-intensity laser beam at an incoming missile. It has heat-seeking capabilities, automatically countering an incoming missile system by honing in on its infrared light emission.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will provide advanced threat warning sensors, replaceable control indicator units, signal processors, infrared missile warning sensors, Guardian Laser Transmitter Assemblies [GLTAs], multi-role electro-optical end-to-end test sets, GLTA shipping containers, high capacity cards, signal processor replacements smart connector assemblies and other hardware.

The Navy is responsible for 79 percent of the contract cost, with the Army responsible for 15 percent and the foreign governments, through the Defense Department's Foreign Military Sales agency, with the rest.

Most of the work will be performed at Northrop Grumman facilities in Rolling Meadows, Ill., and Goleta, Calif.

The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting agent.