Air Warrior Col. John W. Thompson - KMI Media Group
Air Warrior Col. John W. Thompson - KMI Media Group
Air Warrior Col. John W. Thompson - KMI Media Group
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and in many ways can<br />
limit overall performance<br />
and reliability.”<br />
There’s also a need<br />
to develop system-level<br />
architectures that can<br />
accept updated processing<br />
elements without<br />
having to do a total<br />
redesign of the hardware<br />
and software. As<br />
in the commercial market,<br />
military customers<br />
want a system in which<br />
they can unplug a video<br />
card from a personal<br />
computer and replace it<br />
with a newer and more<br />
powerful card by simply<br />
loading new “software<br />
drivers” with no need to change the<br />
operational software. “Also, I believe that,<br />
just like your home computer’s ability<br />
to run multiple simultaneous programs,<br />
these future systems will support multifunctional<br />
capabilities through multicore<br />
parallel processing,” Maas added.<br />
The market for these products is not<br />
huge—just $10 million to $15 million<br />
annually per contract—but it’s a healthy,<br />
steady demand, said Mike Shoemaker,<br />
vice president of sales and marketing for<br />
Alloy Surfaces Company Inc., a Chester<br />
Township, Pa.-based subsidiary of<br />
the Chemring <strong>Group</strong> that manufactures<br />
infrared air countermeasures and is said<br />
to be the only manufacturer of special<br />
material decoys (SMDs). Its MJU-49/B, a<br />
special material decoy pyrophoric infrared<br />
(IR) countermeasure has been developed<br />
and manufactured for the U.S. Navy,<br />
designed to defend helicopters and jet<br />
aircraft from missile threats worldwide.<br />
It emits IR energy in the same band as<br />
an aircraft, and can be employed using<br />
the ALE-39 series or any countermeasure<br />
dispensing system capable of employing<br />
a round 36 mm flare. It contains<br />
no pyrotechnics other than a CCU-136<br />
squib, required to expel the SMD from<br />
the flare casing. Once expelled, the SMD<br />
reacts with oxygen to rapidly oxidize<br />
and generate an IR signature. However,<br />
the temperature is less than half the<br />
temperature of conventional materials,<br />
and SMD is considered extremely safe<br />
to handle.<br />
An AC-130U gunship jettisons flares over an area near Hurlburt Field, Fla. The flares are a countermeasure for heat-seeking missiles that may be fired at the aircraft<br />
during real world missions. The aircraft is from the 4th Special Operations Squadron. [Photo courtesy of U.S. <strong>Air</strong> Force]<br />
A formation of C-130 Hercules aircraft fire off chaff and flare countermeasures over the Nevada Test and Training Range during a<br />
mobility exercise. [Photo courtesy of U.S. <strong>Air</strong> Force]<br />
Another product, the company’s MJU-<br />
52/B, was developed with the United<br />
States Naval Surfaces Warfare Center<br />
to offer preemptive protection to fast<br />
jet fighters and fighter bombers. The<br />
MJU-52/B utilizes special material, Alloy<br />
Surfaces’ proprietary patented technology<br />
to emit IR energy to decoy missiles.<br />
It is manufactured in plastic trays and is<br />
deployed upon command with an electrical<br />
impulse to initiate a mechanical dispenser.<br />
The MJU-52/B can be ejected from<br />
any Bol Dispenser Series. It requires no<br />
pyrotechnics to expel this special material<br />
and is virtually unobservable to the<br />
naked eye.<br />
The technologies for these systems<br />
have evolved as the missiles that the aircraft<br />
are seeking to avoid have evolved,<br />
Shoemaker said. The relatively simple<br />
Vietnam-era of magnesium Teflon countermeasure<br />
systems has given way to a<br />
material mix that emits energy in two<br />
regions of the infrared spectrum as an<br />
evasive tactic. There are many different<br />
combinations now used in materials<br />
and composition, although most of this<br />
information is proprietary. “We’ll call this<br />
a cocktail,” he said. “You’ll have two or<br />
three different flares in the airplane and<br />
put them out in a different sequence—<br />
just like you do with a cocktail, mixing<br />
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