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Army looks to field laser jammer by 2010

The Army is buying a high-tech laser jammer able to thwart guided-missile attacks on helicopters, Army officials said. The advanced system uses an infrared sensor designed to track an approaching missile, then fires a high-powered, multiband heat laser to intercept the missile and throw it off course.

The Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures is being developed through a $57 million Army deal with BAE's electronic warfare division. The majority of the funding, $40 million, is for the multiband laser, and the remaining $17 million is for testing the ATIRCM for use in combat by 2010, Army and BAE officials said.

ATIRCM is configured to work in tandem with the ultraviolet flare dispenser, the Common Missile Warning System now on all Army aircraft. BAE is delivering the CMWS under a separate $1.4 billion deal with the Army struck in 2003.

The Army plan is to field the ATIRCM in conjunction with the CMWS across all Army aviation platforms such as Black Hawks, Chinooks and Apaches.

Army planners said the ATIRCM could be crucial if the U.S. Army faced an enemy with more sophisticated weapons than those U.S. soldiers are now facing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We don’t fly out there into a very integrated system of radars and IR threats that are our there. It’s a [man-portable air defense system], it’s small arms, it’s heavy machine guns. We can deal with those pretty well. But if we ever get to face an enemy that has long-range anti-aircraft capability with radar and infrared, then we need a much better suite of counter threats before we ever fight that combat," said Col. Mark Hayes, Army Training and Doctrine Command system manager.

ATIRCM's laser-interceptor could bring a new generation of countermeasure capabilities to helicopters, said Army and BAE officials.

"Instead of decoying it away, the laser puts so much light energy into the objects of the missile that it causes it to lose lock on the aircraft. It is a much more decisive defeat. Usually, with the lasers, we can defeat missiles at a much greater distance than we can with the flares. The issue with the flares is that sometimes the missiles get close," said Stephen S. duMont, business director with BAE's electronic warfare division.

Larger, less maneuverable choppers like the Chinook could benefit from ATIRCM by intercepting missiles farther away, duMont said. Also, the quieter ATIRCM could allow helicopters to covertly defend themselves in hostile territory by removing the noise of the CMWS flares, duMont said.

The idea, and the need for CMWS evolved out U.S. Army combat experiences during Operation Iraqi Freedom, duMont said.

"In 2003, there was a shootdown of a Chinook. Fifteen brave men and women who lost their lives,” duMont said. “The Army leadership stepped back and looked at the fact that they did not have adequate protection on the aircraft so they put together a plan to field the common missile warning system.”

Since that time, BAE has developed and fielded 850 CMWS now flying on aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ultraviolet detection systems on the CMWS are designed to detect smoke emanating from an enemy missile launch.

"The [ultraviolet] sees that launch and it starts to track it. At the right point in time, it sends a message to flares which shoot up from the aircraft and basically lures the missile away from the aircraft," duMont said.

Brian Smith, a U.S. Army Apache pilot with the 4th Infantry Division, was attacked by missiles in Iraq last year. CMWS saved his life, he said.

"I was flying around in October on a clear blue day working south of Baghdad on a routine mission. We got the CMWS indication in the cockpit. I looked out my right door and saw that the flares did deploy and next thing I know, I noticed a missile coming off my right wing.

It sounded just like a snake, and I felt a sonic boom as it went by the door. If it wasn't for CMWS, we would not be standing here," Smith said.

ATIRCM has been fielded in very limited numbers with some U.S. government agencies. The Department of Homeland Security has invested $80 million into ATIRCM, duMont said. DHS is exploring the possible use of ATRICM on U.S. commercial airliners, duMont said.

"ATIRCM was developed to beat all of the missiles out there today," duMont said.