BAE Systems' commercial aircraft missile defense system enters Phase III at DHS

Published 15 August 2006

The JETEYE system, adapted from the US Army’s infrared countermeasures system, has entered Phase III of testing. The 18 month program will help the company refine the technology and meet the DHS mean time failure rate.

BAE Systems, the largest European defense concern, has entered Phase III of the DHS program to protect commercial airliners against infrared guided-missile threats. The JETEYE system, based on the US Army’s own Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures system, has been deployed on an American Airlines Boeing 767 and tested against simulated man-portable air defense systems since 2005. The 18-month Phase III program, in which the JETEYE is to be also attached to an ABX Air cargo plane, will help BAE refine the technology. Two important issues: reducing aerodynamic drag and improving reliability and maintainability. According to Burt Keirstead, BAE program director for JETEYE, the company is well on its way to exceeding a DHS requirement of 3,000 hours’ mean time between failures.

-read more in this press release