C-MANPADS Live Fire Tests Set for October

Air Safety Week, Oct 1, 2007

Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems are preparing for live-fire tests of their competing airborne Counter Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (Counter MANPADS) defensive systems at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The October ground-based tests are part of the third and final phase of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) three-year-old C-MANPADS program aimed at protecting commercial transports from terrorist missile attacks.

The critical tests will go a long way in showing that a civil transport can automatically protect itself from lightweight, shoulder-fired heat seeking missiles, but DHS is considering multiple technological approaches for protecting commercial transports from MANPADS.

Two U.S. firms will show the feasibility of ground-based systems that can defend against shoulder-fired missiles. Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are under contract to demonstrate systems for airport-based anti-missile systems. The Emerging Counter MANPADS Technologies Assessment (ECMTA) program, considers non- aircraft borne technologies. DHS reasons a ground-based system---in combination with aircraft counter-measures---might offer a layered anti-missile shield.

A third award went to AVISYS, an L-3 Communications subsidiary, to test an aircraft-mounted decoy-dispensing system. The DHS is also looking at the concept of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to combat the MANPADS threat. DHS's Project Chloe would rely on UAVs flying above U.S. airports at 50,000 feet to find and defeat shoulder-fired missiles launched at arriving and departing aircraft.

As part of Phase III of the C-MANPADS program, Northrop Grumman fabricated and installed its Guardian missile defense systems on nine Federal Express MD-10 aircraft in revenue service. As of late September, more than 9,000 on-aircraft hours for Guardian (5,000 actual flight hours) was achieved. The goal is to complete 12,000 flight hours by March 2008 when the C-MANPADS project winds down. The firm also holds supplemental type certificates (STC) for Guardian installations on McDonnell Douglas MD-11s and Boeing 747s.

According to Northrop Grumman's Jack Pledger, the operational test and evaluation portion of the C-MANPADS program is demonstrating Guardian's reliability and its ability to work on wide-body cargo aircraft. "We are on track to achieve a baseline mean time between failure of 3,000 hours," said Pledger, noting that added fuel burn has been negligible despite installation of a belly pod to hold the 500 pounds of defensive electronics.

"We have been able to collect valuable logistics data while operating Guardian on aircraft in routine commercial service. This data proves that the Guardian system is a viable concept for commercial applications to protect aircraft from today's modern MANPADS threats," he added.

Northrop Grumman previously completed a 16-month flight test program that included the use of a ground-based electronic missile surrogate to simulate the launch of a shoulder-fired missile toward aircraft during takeoff and landing. The tests were performed on an MD-11, an MD-10 and a B-747.

In each test, the Guardian system functioned as designed, automatically detecting the simulated launch and mock missile. Had the threats been real, said the company, a radar beam would have disrupted the missile guidance system and protected the aircraft. Northrop Grumman's system makes use of technology from the company's military directional infrared countermeasures system.

In the upcoming week-long , live-fire tests at the White Sands Missile Range, A Guardian pod will be strapped beneath a cable-car-like device and pulled between two mountain peaks, during which time heat-seeking missiles will attempt to hit the structure. "We look forward to the upcoming test. We are highly confident that Guardian will work well. We will make believers of any doubters," said Pledger.

Meantime, BAE Systems is conducting additional flight testing of its JETEYE counter missile system, which was flown and tested against ground-based electronic missile surrogates to simulate the launch of shoulder-fired missiles toward an American Airlines Boeing 767 in late 2005. JETEYE will also take part in the White Sands Missile Range live fire tests in October.

JETEYE will continue flying on the same 767 and will also fly on an ABX Air 767 cargo plane, permitting evaluation of the system, its maintenance, and logistics under actual operational conditions.

With completion of Phase III of the C-MANPADS project this coming March, DHS will provide a report to the U.S. Congress, which will determine the future of the program.

Last October, lawmakers inserted language into the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill which sets aside $30 million to $40 million to evaluate the feasibility of placing C-MANPADS technology on passenger aircraft.

A dozen passenger jets owned by volunteer air carriers will be outfitted with temporary missile defenses and used to gather data on whether the systems create any operational difficulties on civil transports. BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman are both seeking to win a DHS contract to test their devices on the passenger aircraft.