Northrop Grumman to install countermeasures system on India head of state aircraft.

The LAIRCM system is a defensive system for large transport and rotary-wing aircraft that combines a Missile Warning System (MWS) and infrared laser jammer countermeasure system to protect the aircraft from infrared guided threat missiles.

LAIRCM automatically detects a missile launch, determines if it is a threat and activates a high-intensity laser-based countermeasure system to track and defeat the missile. The counter-measures subsystem uses lasers mounted in pointer-tracker turret assemblies. LAIRCM is an active countermeasure that defeats the threat missile guidance system by directing a high-intensity modulated laser beam into the missile seeker. In addition, the LAIRCM system automatically counters advanced IR missile systems with no action required by the crew.

Northrop Grumman's various infrared countermeasure systems are now installed or scheduled for installation on more than 1,000 military aircraft around the world to protect 55 different types of large fixed-wing transports and rotary-wing platforms from infrared missile attacks. The mature, reliable technology has been incorporated in more than 3,250 pointer/trackers that are now in full-rate production to protect these aircraft, supporting more than 1 million hours of theatre operation.