Category Archives: weapons systems

Army, Northrop Grumman, Sensors, weapons systems

Northrop Grumman, SELEX GALILEO Team up again on IR countermeasures for U.S. Army Program

Announcing another strategic alliance with a European defense company, today Northrop Grumman Corporation revealed it had teamed with  SELEX Galileo, a Finmeccanica company, to compete for the U.S. Army’s Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) program.

SELEX Galileo, as noted in B&B recently, is assisting the Pakistani government in its development of its own UAV capability.

CIRCM is a US Army program to provide light and medium helicopters with a laser-based defense against infrared-seeking antiaircraft missiles and other IR “current and future IR threat systems.”  Northrop/SELEX Galileo’s proposed system for CIRCM program, uses the ECLIPSE micro pointer/tracker, a  relatively low-cost compact lightweight stabilized laser transmitter, designed for an earlier Northrop Grumman directed CIRCM system, NEMESIS, integrating it into a new”4th generation lightweight, highly reliable Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) system specifically designed for medium and light helicopter protection.” (from Northrop’s release).

via Northrop Grumman and SELEX GALILEO Team to Compete for U.S. Army’s Common Infrared Countermeasures Program (NYSE:NOC).

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Navy, Raytheon, weapons systems

U.S. Navy Awards Raytheon $93 Million Contract for Standard Missile-6

Raytheon has announced that it has won a $93 million contract,  the first of several planned low rate initial production (LRIP) contracts to build Standard Missile-6 systems for the U.S. Navy.  The contract includes the production of missiles and delivery of spare parts andmissile containers, with delivery early in 2011.

The SM-6 is the latest in a long line of anti-aircraft missiles Raytheon has made for the Navy, and cousin to the RIM-161 SM-3, used by the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.   SM-6 is intended for lower-flying threats, at long range, using an active seeker system (its own radar) to attack targets over the horizon.  SM-6 can also use a semi-active mode, relying partially on targeting from a target “painted” by fire control radar.

“Standard Missile-6 has been on budget and on schedule since the program started in 2004,” said Frank Wyatt, vice president of Raytheon’s Naval Weapon Systems. “LRIP clears the way for delivery to the warfighter of this integral weapon system.”

“When combined with future integrated fire control, SM-6 will provide the U.S. Navy with an extended battlespace capability against over-the-horizon AAW threats,” said Wyatt. “By taking full advantage of the Standard Missile family’s kinematics, SM-6 provides signal processing and superior guidance and control capabilities.”

via U.S. Navy Awards Raytheon $93 Million Contract for Standard Missile-6 – Sep 09, 2009.

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