Leonardo DRS has received a three-year contract from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) for the low-rate initial production of its AN/AAQ-45 Distributed Aperture Infrared Countermeasure (DAIRCM) aircraft survivability system.
The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract covers production of the system, which is designed to protect military aircraft and crews against missile and other threats in contested environments.
DAIRCM is an integrated aircraft survivability suite developed for small- and medium-sized aircraft with limited size, weight and integration capacity. It combines missile warning, directed infrared countermeasures, laser warning and hostile-fire indication.
Under the contract, Leonardo DRS will provide hardware production, aircraft integration, systems engineering, program management and logistics support. Hardware manufacturing will take place at the company's facilities in Dallas, Texas, and San Diego, California, while aircraft integration and logistics activities will be carried out in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
The system has already been deployed on aircraft operating under a Joint Urgent Operational Need Statement. The low-rate initial production contract follows the completion of the program's Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase, during which Leonardo DRS introduced capability and production-related improvements to the system configuration.
According to the company, the contract will support the transition of DAIRCM into low-rate initial production and expand its aircraft survivability capabilities portfolio.