DAIRCM missile-warning system enters production at Leonardo DRS

The AN/AAQ-45, expanded as Distributed Aperture Infrared Countermeasure (DAIRCM), is the subject of the NAVAIR award, which runs for three years. The system is built for small and medium-sized aircraft with tight size, weight and integration limits. Its functions are laser warning, hostile-fire indication, missile warning and directed infrared countermeasures, housed in a modular architecture. Expendable countermeasures are part of the package, supporting the defeat of missiles with infrared guidance.

The Marine Corps names the AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter and the UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter as application platforms. On a limited number of those aircraft, DAIRCM is meant to take over from the AAR-47 missile-warning system.

The scope for Leonardo DRS covers building the hardware, integrating it on aircraft, systems engineering, program management and logistics support. Hardware is built in Dallas and San Diego, while integration and logistics work is based at Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

The production award follows the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase, in which the company added capability and producibility enhancements to the configuration. Some aircraft already fly with DAIRCM to meet a Joint Urgent Operational Need Statement. John Baylouny, Leonardo DRS president and CEO, says the award widens the company’s ability to supply integrated survivability to military customers and calls the system cost-effective.

Why it matters

The contract adds to the aircraft survivability portfolio of Leonardo DRS as military aircraft face threats that are growing in number and complexity.

Packing warning and defeat functions into one modular system suits platforms such as the Viper and Venom, where size, weight and integration requirements are demanding.

For integrators, the scope runs from hardware production through aircraft integration to logistics, which places manufacturing, installation and support with a single contractor. The award covers low-rate initial production only, and the AAR-47 replacement applies to a limited number of aircraft.

In the directory, Leonardo’s radar sensing line for airborne platforms includes the PicoSAR AESA radar, which is offered for uncrewed aerial systems as well as fixed- and rotary-wing platforms.