US Marine Corps CH-53E to Receive Directional Infrared Countermeasures

Released on Monday, June 18, 2007

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., June 18, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been selected to outfit U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E helicopters with the company's Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) systems.

The $19.7 million inaugural contract with the U.S. Marine Corps represents the first application of Northrop Grumman's Two-Color Infrared Missile Warning Sensor system with the company's Mini Pointer/Tracker Assembly jam head to form a DIRCM suite for protection of the Marines' CH-53E helicopter. The new system will detect threat missiles in the same spectrum that the missile uses to track the aircraft.

"The U.S. Marine Corps becomes the latest military service to benefit from our DIRCM aircraft protection system with the newest generation of infrared countermeasures technology, providing the warfighters protection against man-portable missile threats," said Robert Del Boca, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division. "This contract demonstrates the versatility of DIRCM in protecting both transport and rotary-wing platforms, and we are confident that it will provide a solid foundation for deploying DIRCM systems on additional Marine Corps assets."

The only such aircraft protection system currently in production, Northrop Grumman's DIRCM system is now installed or scheduled for installation on several hundred military aircraft representing approximately 40 different large fixed-wing transport and small rotary-wing platforms. The system functions by automatically detecting a missile launch, determining if it is a threat and activating a high-intensity laser-based countermeasure system to track and defeat the missile.