The 3rd Assault Helicopter Battalion, the 227th Aviation Regiment, the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, and the 1st Cavalry Division Taxi from the Red Rock Test Center Airport in the Red Rock Armory, Alaska. An airstrike mission was carried out during the operational test of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. In the box: a military jamming device of the CIRCM system (Common Infrared Countermeasures).
The new CIRCM system will provide services for all current helicopters, including the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter under development and the future vertical lift helicopter. On April 30, 2021, the U.S. Army signed an order with Northrop Grumman to begin full-scale production of laser-based Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) systems. The $1 billion fixed-price contract will be completed to purchase an unknown number of CIRCM systems, to equip all helicopters currently used in the US Army with cell phone jammer, starting with the UH-60M Black Hawk, and the winner of the future competition The vertical lift plan will replace the current helicopter fleet.
CIRCM is a light directional infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system used on all rotors, tilt rotors, and small fixed-wing aircraft of the Ministry of Defense, with two mobile phone jammers, specifically designed to protect aircraft from infrared-guided missiles. According to Northrop Grumman, the system is based on an open architecture, can be used with existing hardware, and uses a compact pointer/tracker, a lightweight COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) processor and advanced QCL (quantum Cascade laser) technology to improve reliability. And scalability.
The contract was awarded after years of development, testing and evaluation in cooperation with the US Army, and 100 units of initial products have been delivered, including the CIRCM system with rapid response capabilities. As early as March 2021, after the successful six-month IOT&E (Initial Operational Test and Evaluation) campaign, the Army announced that the system was operational, effective and operational. It is expected that the delivery of all CIRCM units agreed in the contract will be completed before 2026.
CIRCM is designed to replace the older and heavier BAE AN/ALQ-212 Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) described in the United States. The army is very effective in combat and cannot be used on all helicopters in the army as planned. Due to its heavy weight, the system cannot be installed on the AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk, but can only be installed on the CH-47 Chinook.
The entire CIRCM system is divided into two smaller toolkits, as stated in the Army Aircraft Procurement Budget for fiscal year 21: “CIRCM A-Kit contains installation hardware, wiring harnesses, and other components required to install and connect the task kit. Task tools The package has the functions and physical functions of a specific host aircraft type. CIRCMB-Kit is a mission kit (laser, pointer tracker and controller) required to provide near-spherical coverage for the aircraft.
As you may already know, there are two ATCO subroutines under development: the Future Long Range Advanced Aircraft (FLRAA), which is a medium attack/multi-purpose aircraft that will replace the UH-60 Black Hawk; and the light reconnaissance helicopter “Future Attack Reconnaissance” “FARA”, the helicopter will be the successor of the retired OH-58 “Kiowa Warrior”. Bell and Sikorsky were finalists in both competitions and submitted further development plans for FLRAA’s V-280 Valor and Defiant X and FARA’s B-360 Invictus and Raider X.