United Kingdom Becomes Northrop Grummanâs CIRCM First Export Customer
The Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) system will be installed on the 14 new extended-range Chinooks which will replace the Royal Air Force’s 14 oldest Chinooks.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract to equip the newest Chinook helicopters of the Royal Air Force with the Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) system. With this contract, the United Kingdom becomes the first export customer of the new-generation Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM).
The United Kingdom is the first #CIRCM international customer outfitting H-47 helicopters with our best-in-class #IRCM technology. Learn more about CIRCM: https://t.co/0MzNDDDudH #CIRCMCan (Photo Credit: @USArmy ) pic.twitter.com/qDJ1rLpuHU
— Northrop Grumman (@NGCNews) December 4, 2024
In an emailed statement, Northrop Grumman was able to provide us more details. The U.K. signed the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case for CIRCM in July 2024. The RAF will be outfitting ten of their new H-47 helicopters with CIRCM, with the system expected to be delivered in 2027.
Britain’s heavy lift capability modernization
The UK has finalized in March 2024 the acquisition of 14 new extended-range Chinooks heavy transport helicopters. The helicopters, which are said to have double the range of a standard Chinook, will have the ability to carry up to 55 personnel or 10,000 kg of cargo in challenging environments from the desert to the arctic.
These helicopters are meant to replace the Royal Air Force’s 14 oldest Chinooks which, as recently announced by Secretary of State for Defence John Healey, will soon be retired to free up resources for the ongoing and future procurements. The specific airframes to be withdrawn, currently designated Chinook HC6A, have been in RAF service since the 1980s.
The new Chinook are being acquired through a Foreign Military Sale program first authorized in 2018. The UK initially requested 16 H-47ER helicopters, together with defensive systems, M-134D miniguns and M-240H machine guns, multi-mode radars and electro-optical sensors.
“Procuring these Chinook helicopters will mark a significant milestone in our efforts to modernise and enhance the agility of the UK Armed Forces, cementing our ability to respond at pace to situations and threats across the globe,” said the then Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
The new Chinooks will also be capable of air-to-air refueling, said the UK government in a press release. The helicopters will also have new capabilities including an advanced digital cockpit and a modernized airframe to increase stability and survivability.
The contract for the cockpit was recently awarded to Collins Aerospace, which will supply its Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) avionics management suite. This cockpit upgrade will make U.K. Chinooks interoperable with the U.S. Chinooks, using the same avionics system, advance digital cockpit displays and applications.
“Interoperability with our allies will be crucial in the future fight, particularly when it comes to maintaining air dominance,” said Dave Schreck, vice president and general manager of Military Avionics and Helicopters at Collins Aerospace. “Having the same battle-proven, modernized flight deck technology on both UK and U.S. aircraft will enable our forces to collaborate more seamlessly, lower their workload and increase operational effectiveness and safety in challenging environments.”
In fact, it is being reported that the helicopters that will be delivered to the RAF will have a configuration similar to the MH-47G employed by the U.S. Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. As a matter of fact, the “Night Stalkers” recently made a rare deployment to the UK to take part in joint training with British forces.
The Common Infrared Countermeasures system
CIRCM is a lightweight dual-jammer Directional Infrared Counter Measures (DIRCM) system designed specifically to protect rotary wing and medium fixed-wing aircraft from infrared-guided missiles. The dual-jammer configuration was chosen as it provides spherical protection and the highest level of aircraft survivability, compared to a single-head DIRCM.
Northrop Grumman says that the system is built on open architecture to work with existing hardware and uses a compact pointer/tracker, a lightweight Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) processor, and advanced Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) technology for greater reliability and scalability.
CIRCM also meets demanding size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements, to offer industry leading capability for a variety of SWaP restrictive platforms for the US and its allies. SWaP requirements are becoming more important as new aircraft carry much more electronic systems, which together are heavier and more power-hungry than in the past. Also, in the past some DIRCM systems failed to be installed in mass on helicopters because of their excessive weight.
As described by the U.S. Army, CIRCM is part of a suite of infrared countermeasures that also includes a Missile Warning System (MWS) and an Improved CounterMeasure Dispenser (ICMD) for flares and chaff. The Army’s current MWS is the Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) with the third-generation electronic control unit (ECU), which is responsible for detecting and declaring on an IR threat. Both CIRCM and the ICMD receive the handoff from CMWS and provide appropriate countermeasures to defeat the threat.
A brief description of the CIRCM’s functioning can be found in the (unclassified) FY21 Army Aircraft Procurement Budget: “CIRCM receives an angular bearing handoff from the MWS, employs a pointing and tracking system which acquires the handed-over threat and tracks the incoming missile during and after motor burnout. CIRCM jams the missile by using modulated laser energy in the missile seeker band, thus degrading the tracking capability of the missile and causing it to miss the aircraft.”
The U.S. Army’s current MWS is the Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) with the third-generation electronic control unit (ECU), which is responsible for detecting and declaring on an IR threat. The same system is installed on the MH-47G and, given the similarities between the two platforms, could be the ones which will be installed on the new RAF Chinooks.
Earlier this year, BAE Systems has been awarded a $114 million Foreign Military Sale by the U.S. Army for the AN/AAR-57 CMWS to be installed on allies’ existing fleets and newly acquired aircraft, including AH-64 Apaches, CH-47 Chinooks and UH-60 Black Hawks. The combat proven system is installed on more than 40 different aircraft types around the world, which have accumulated more than 4 million combat hours.
You can find more about CIRCM in this in-depth story published in 2023 here at The Aviationist.