$20.3M Delivery Order for Aircraft Defense Flares
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Alloy Surfaces Co. Inc. in Chester Township, PA received a delivery order amount of $20.3 million as part of a $46 million firm-fixed-price contract for M211 Flares.
The M211 Advanced Infrared Countermeasure Munition (AIRCMM) is being developed for low flying, slow moving aircraft, and consists of using these three flares in a timing and sequence that has been optimized, through flight-testing and computer simulations, to decoy missile threats equipped with flare countermeasures.
Simple improvement of the existing M206 was considered but found to be ineffective since a new decoy configuration and chemical composition are required to attain similarity between the aircraft signature and the flare signature. The combination has been proven to drastically increase the survivability of aircraft and aircrew employing it during missions over hostile areas.
The AIRCMM solution has been utilized in the field on MH-47 and MH-60 Helicopters by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment since early 2000. The Air Force has adopted the AIRCMM solution for use on the HH-60 Pave Hawk Combat Search and Rescue helicopters and were first used during Operation Northern Watch. The HH-60 dispensers have been upgraded and reoriented to the optimized angle. The Air Force has also begun use of the M211 Flare on C-130 Transports as well as AFSOC AC-130 Spectre Gun Ships.
Most recently the M211 and M212 flares were used to protect aircraft during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the aircrews reported the countermeasures were effective in defeating multiple missiles fired at them.
Work on this contract will be performed in Chester Township, PA and is expected to be complete by Nov. 30, 2006. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on March 26, 2002, and one bid was received. The Picatinny Center for Contracting and Commerce at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ issued the contract (W15QKN-04-D-1002).
