Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation has been awarded an $11.73-million (around ₹79 crore) contract to provide India with aircraft countermeasure systems.

The American aerospace and defence technology company will equip and make available Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system on India’s head-of-state aircraft.

India’s heads of state typically use a Boeing 747-400 from Air India for official international travel.

The Air Force also owns four Embraer 135s, four Embraer 145s and three customised Boeing Business Jets (747). Of these, the Boeing 747s are used by the Prime Minister, President and Vice-President on official overseas visits.

According to a statement from the US Department of Defence, Northrop Grumman’s Rolling Meadows, Illinois facility has been awarded the $11,734,223 fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the LAIRCM.

The LAIRCM is a defence system for large transport and rotary-wing aircraft that combines a missile warning system (MWS) and infrared laser jammer countermeasure system to protect the aircraft from missiles.

Work on the project will be done in India, and is expected to be complete by January 31, 2020.

A Northrop spokesperson told BusinessLine the contract comes under the US government’s Foreign Military Sales programme. Under this programme, US companies may sell defence articles and services to foreign countries.

Northrop Grumman has been present in India for close to three decades and supports a variety of defence and civil applications, including air traffic control, communications systems and radars, unmanned ground vehicles for the Army and marine navigation systems for the Navy.

Missile detection Sources said LAIRCM automatically detects a missile launch, determines if it is a threat and activates a high-intensity laser-based countermeasure system to track and defeat the missile.

The countermeasures subsystem uses lasers. The LAIRCM system also automatically counters advanced infrared missile systems with no action required by the crew.

Northrop Grumman’s various infrared countermeasure systems are currently installed — or scheduled for installation — on more than 1,000 military aircraft around the world, to protect 55 different types of large fixed-wing transports and rotary-wing platforms from infrared missile attacks. The technology has been incorporated in more than 3,250 trackers.

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