Advertise with us
Where the defense community gets down to business.
Show Coverage
Looking for more? Check out this year's full list of upcoming show coverage.
Conferences
View exclusive coverage of the best minds in Defense - military, government and industry.
PARIS - Because of aborted efforts to field a new aerial tanker for the Air Force, meaning old KC-135s will be flying for years longer than expected, the Air National Guard in the U.S. has decided to demonstrate Northrop Grumman's directional IR countermeasure (DIRCM) on one of its tankers to counter the man-portable missile threat from Stingers and other weapons.
Scheduled for later this year, the test will "determine if there is any operational impact on the tanker," said Jack Pledger, director of IRCM business development, speaking here at the Paris Air Show.
The DIRCM system is based on the AN/AAQ-24 that is installed on numerous aircraft, including Australia's Wedgetail, with modifications that made it suitable for attachment to commercial aircraft such as widebodies flown by FedEx. The Guardian pod, as it is branded for commercial use, weighs 500 pounds and extends 18 inches below the aircraft belly.
"It mounts just ahead of the refueling boom, and the Air National Guard wants to see if it blocks the flight director lights that the receiving aircraft views for refueling," said Pledger, who doesn't expect that to be the case.
The Guardian pod would also be suitable for commercial aircraft that fly as part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, and ferry troops and cargo to and from areas of operation. Such work isn't funded at the moment, Pledger said, but Northrop Grumman has completed design work to install the DIRCM system on DC-10/KC-10-type aircraft.
The company also plans to downsize its countermeasure system so it would be suitable for application on helicopters.
Help
