BAE Systems' Next-Gen Countermeasures Dispenser to Provide Advanced Threat Protection for Aircraft

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BAE Systems, a leader in optical electronic warfare systems, today unveiled its Smart D2™ system, a next-generation threat management technology named for its ability to dispense countermeasures and defend military aircraft. The system efficiently manages and deploys smart, expendable countermeasures – including multi-shot flares, active radio-frequency (RF) decoys, and kinetic interceptors – that are designed to protect aircraft and aircrews from existing and emerging threats.

Traditional threat warning and countermeasure systems identify and defeat infrared and RF guided missiles by dispensing flares or chaff, which confuse threats and their ability to track. However, current systems lack the communications, inventory management, and customizable response capabilities necessary to increase survivability against evolving future threats.

The Smart D2 system provides two-way communication between the dispenser and aircraft using the NATO-standard Smart Stores Communication Interface, providing crews with critical inventory information and the ability to program expendable, active decoys in real time to improve survivability against advanced threats. The system monitors the quantity, location, age, and carriage life of each expendable on the aircraft and can deploy a tailored mix of smart countermeasures to efficiently defeat specific threats.

“The Smart D2 system combines smart inventory management with a database of proven countermeasure combinations,” said Paul Markwardt, vice president and general manager of Survivability, Targeting, and Sensing Solutions at BAE Systems. “The updated communications and inventory control in our Smart D2 system and its ability to work with current and future smart countermeasures provides aircrews with a more capable survivability solution that improves their ability to complete missions.”

Smart D2 is designed to work with fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and integrates with existing warning systems as well as future systems, including the company’s 2-Color Advanced Warning System (2C-AWS). Smart D2 also builds on the company’s proven ALE-47 Airborne Countermeasures Dispenser System, a trusted and highly reliable survivability system that operates on a wide variety of military aircraft worldwide.

BAE Systems’ integrated systems improve the survivability of airborne, ground, and maritime platforms by automatically sensing, processing, and responding to a wide variety of threats, allowing aircrews, soldiers, and sailors to execute their missions in hostile environments and return home safely.