Aircraft

Saab, with UK-based partner Chemring and backed by the new European Union Protection of Air Transport and Infrastructure (PATIN) programme, is developing a civil aircraft-mounted countermeasures system effective against man-portable air defence (Manpads) missiles. The manufacturer claims the system, at about $500,000 per aircraft, is less than half the price of comparable directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) systems, while also safer and more reliable than systems that use pyrotechnic flares.

The system works using a compact electro-mechanical dispenser for pyrophoric decoys that oxidise on contact with the air, and leave no harmful residue when the material remnants of the decoy have burned out - which they have done before reaching the ground, according to developer Chemring. The system consists of a missile approach warning system that detects the ultra-violet signature by the missile, a countermeasures dispenser, and pyrophoric decoys.

Saab says that the system is back in the running for the US Department of Homeland Security's civil aircraft protection system, partly because its reliability is a claimed five times better than the mean time between failures achieved by current DIRCM systems, which is essential for the acceptance of a civil system. But the company says the real boost has come from recognition by the PATIN programme as a potentially suitable solution, and the UK Ministry of Defence studying a military variant.

Saab says the immediate market is relatively small, limited to VVIP aircraft, transports in use for air relief in hostile environments, and aircraft used for evacuating dangerous regions.