Northrop Grumman has achieved another significant milestone on its Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) program by completing safety of flight testing on prototype hardware.

The Northrop Grumman CIRCM system is a lightweight, low-cost, high-reliability laser-based countermeasure system. It is designed to integrate and operate with legacy and emerging missile warning systems for rotary wing, tilt-rotor and small fixed-wing aircraft across the military services. Safety of flight testing was completed Aug. 14, demonstrating that the production-ready system has matured to the point of operation under stressing flight conditions.

The CIRCM was exposed to intense environmental conditions, such as temperature, vibration, altitude and humidity extremes, as well as crash shock and explosive atmospheres.

"Passing each of the testing requirements makes a clear statement that the Northrop Grumman CIRCM system is ready and safe to fly, and provides more factual evidence and proof of the maturity of our solution," said Jeff Palombo, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Land and Self Protection Systems Division.

"Our open architecture solution continues to meet program requirements while achieving on-time performance, propelling us toward the EMD phase of the program and the fielding of the next generation of aircraft survivability for our warfighters."

The safety of flight testing comes on the heels of the preliminary design review in July when Northrop Grumman presented the U.S. Army with a system design that surpasses the program's weight and electrical power requirements. After being awarded a technology development contract to develop the CIRCM in 2012, the company completed acceptance testing on the first suite of equipment and delivered a complete hardware set in January - two months ahead of schedule.

Northrop Grumman is an industry leader in directional infrared countermeasures system design and manufacture. The company's infrared countermeasures systems have been installed on more than 800 aircraft representing 50 different aircraft types, including large and small fixed-wing, rotary-wing and tilt-wing platforms.