Common Infrared Countermeasures program

The Army issued a draft request for proposals for the CIRCM contract in May 2009, opening the competitive phase for a deal to develop and install the missile jammer on thousands of helicopters and tiltrotors in US military inventory.

The winning contractor will provide an initial 1,076 systems to supply AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-47 Chinook and future armed scout helicopters.

[4] Competition is fierce for the CIRCM program, with four established industry teams vying for what seems to be one of the few new starts the armed services will pursue in a "bleak" budgetary environment.

CIRCM lowers the weight of the system and therefore brings with it the opportunity to deploy this kind of laser counter-measure across a wider portion of the fleet.

[11] In a June 2010 letter to Representative Ike Skelton, D-Mo., Carter explained how restructuring the ATIRCM/CMWS program caused a breach of the Nunn-McCurdy statute, since, when military officials determined the ATIRCM system to be too heavy for any helicopter except the CH-47, the purchase quantity had to be substantially reduced - down to 83 units.

[12] As part of the Nunn–McCurdy certification process, in which the Pentagon explains the cost growth to Congress and reaffirms why the program is still essential to national security, officials have to show that lower-cost alternatives are not available.

The Department of the Navy (DoN) also operates an infrared countermeasures program called LAIRCM, which is fielded exclusively on large fixed-wing aircraft, and uses a laser pointer-tracker to defeat IR-guided threats.

[13] LAIRCM systems such as the AAQ-24, delivered to the DoN by Northrop Grumman, are directed IR countermeasures designed to defend large fixed-wing aircraft from IR-guided threats.

[15] As of the end of 2009, the production CMWS, coupled with chaff/flare dispensers was deployed on approximately 1,000 Army CH-47 Chinooks, UH-60 Blackhawks, AH-64 Apaches, [R]C-12 Hurons, UC-35 Citations and C-23 Sherpa Aircraft.

[16] In the future, the military will utilize the integrated CMWS/CIRCM suite to enhance threat warning and improve defensive countermeasures for helicopters and small, slow-moving fixed-wing aircraft, whose size precludes the use of LAIRCM.