The Leonardo/Thales Miysis DIRCM countermeasures system as fielded by the UK Ministry of Defence. (Leonardo)
The UK has completed end-to-end tests of a new infrared (IR) countermeasures capability intended to protect Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft against IR-guided manportable air-defence systems (MANPADSs).
Disclosing details on 20 October, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the combination of the Thales Elix-IR threat warning system (IRTWS) and Leonardo Miysis directed infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system successfully defeated all threats during a trial conducted at the Vidsel Test Range in Sweden. Testing was conducted in conjunction with the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) under the umbrella of Team Pellonia.
Sensing in the mid-wave IR band, Elix-IR uses complex algorithms to filter out background clutter so that only valid threats are tracked, classified, and declared. Following track handover, the Miysis DIRCM directs a modulated laser beam (using a Dstl jamming waveform) onto the seeker of the approaching MANPADS so as to break target lock.
The latest trials at Vidsel saw the Elix-IR and Miysis systems installed in a box enclosure fitted to a six-axis linear motion platform. According to the MoD, “[the] operational system defeated a range of infrared heat-seeking missiles being fired simultaneously,” adding, “100% of threats were quickly defeated.”
Established in 2022, Team Pellonia is an enterprise-level partnership bringing together Leonardo, Thales, Chemring Countermeasures, and Dstl. It was set up to serve as a government/industry ‘enterprise' to deliver self-protection systems for UK air platforms, while at the same time maintaining core sovereign intellectual and industrial capability and contributing to wider prosperity through exports.
For more information on Miysis, please see Leonardo delivers Miysis DIRCMs for UK Shadow fleet .
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