Airborne Missile Protection Solutions

Provide complete protection against all known Surface to Air Missiles (SAM) including MANPADS, Laser Beam Rider threats and radar-guided missiles.

Airborne Missile Protection Systems

BIRD’s field-proven Airborne Missile Protection System (AMPS) family of solutions is designed to provide total protection in dense and diverse threat environments by protecting crews and aircraft against all known Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs), including man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), laser beam rider (LBR) and radar-guided missiles.
Integrated with BIRD’s patented Confirmation and Tracking Sensors, AMPS uniquely ensures an unprecedented Zero False Alarm Rate (FAR) along with enhanced protection based on each real threat’s unique characteristics enabling users to detect threats in a way that has never been possible before, ensuring optimal aircraft protection tailored to defeat each specific threat.

With hundreds of aircraft installations, AMPS has been selected to protect a wide range of civil and military platforms used by leading customers such as the US Government, NATO members, United Nations (UN) Air Operations and other Air Forces around the world. The system has been in long-term, continuous, and successful operation in high risk theaters including Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan Mali and Somalia.

AMPS

AMPS can be installed on a wide range of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, using a variety of detection sensors and configurations. The system’s primary configurations offer complete protection against any type of ground-to-air threat, including:

AMPS-M

Protects military and civil aircraft against shoulder-launched missiles (MANPADS).

AMPS-MV

Provides protection to VIP and civil aircraft against MANPADS attacks.

AMPS-MLR

Protects aircraft against MANPADS, Laser Beam Rider threats, radar-guided missiles and radar-controlled guns.

AMPS-MD

Provides enhanced DIRCM protection to aircraft against MANPADS attacks.

Missile Approach Confirmation Sensor

BIRD’s unique Missile Approach Confirmation Sensor (MACS) confirms suspected incoming missile threats to eliminate false alarms. This enabling full system compliance with stringent FAA/EASA civil aviation regulations, and dramatically improves commercial and VIP aircraft protection against MANPADS.

MACS Advantages

Eliminates false alarms and ensures that only actual threats are declared through effective filtering of all natural and manmade sources of false alarms

Collects specific threat information like velocity and distance, calculates time-to-impact

Optimized Counter Measure Logic

Eliminates the aircraft exposure in night conditions

Increased crew confidence

Compatible with Civil Aviation regulations and eligible to be installed on both civil and VIP platforms.

MACS Sensor - Eliminating the False Alarms

The patented MACS sensor performs unique confirmation of suspected incoming missile threats detected by the main electro-optical passive sensors and practically eliminates any False Alarms. Upon receiving a pre-alarm warning from the electro-optical sensors, MACS slews to the direction of the incoming threat and verifies the threat’s validity. Concurrently, MACS also collects relevant information on the target (velocity and distance) and calculates its time-to-impact, enabling the most effective countermeasure response to the incoming missile. This validation process between the electro-optical sensors and the MACS provides the most effective filtering for all nature and man made known types of false alarms that are usually detected by electro-optical sensors. MACS ensures that only real missiles will be declared by the system and reacted upon.

SPREOS (DIRCM) - Self Protection Radar Electro Optic System

Unique DIRCM system designed to confirm, track and jam IR guided missile threats

SPREOS Advantages

Most advanced DIRCM solution available

Eliminates false alarms and ensures that only valid threats are declared

Collects specific threat information like velocity and distance, calculates time-to-impact, and enables optimized jamming

Constant threat tracking to assess whether missile has been defeated and how effective protection remains

Proven ability to defeat modern advanced threats (Gen1,2 &3)

Open to accepting user-defined jamming codes

Integrates with any legacy MWS system

Single compact and lightweight LRU

Simple installation on all types of platforms

SPREOS (Self Protection Radar Electro-Optic System) is a patented DIRCM system for Missile Approach Verification, Tracking, and laser Jamming. It combines a Semi-Active Dual Band Radar and Directional IR Countermeasure. Queued by an MWS, SPREOS points towards the suspected threat, performs a Doppler based interrogation to confirm the existence of a valid threat, and extract its key parameters. In addition, SPREOS precisely tracks and points an advanced dual band solid-state Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) towards the threat for the most effective jamming of IR seeking MANPADS.

SPREOS features an open architecture design and can be seamlessly integrated with any type of Missile Warning System (MWS), user-defined Jamming Codes, and other countermeasure systems.

SPREOS is fully qualified for both Military and Civil Aircraft standards (MIL-STD & RTCA/DO-160/178/254) and can be integrated as a standalone or as an add-on LRU (line replaceable unit) to any ASE system, and can also support a single or multiple turret configuration according to the aircraft requirements.

AeroShield - All-in-One Airborne AMPS Pod

In light of the growing threat of MANPADS (shoulder-launched missiles) to civil and military aviation, and the need to protect wide-body aircraft, BIRD created AeroShield – a Pod solution for protection of large aircraft and VIP jets. Equipped with BIRD’s field-proven AMPS solution, AeroShield offers simple installation with minimal interference to the aircraft, in a unified solution for all wide body aircraft including the A320, B737, B777, A380, and others.

AeroShield Advantages

Optimum platform protection

Supports protection by both DIRCM and flares

Easy installation and configuration - one Pod fits all

Smaller and lighter than any Pod solution

Low-footprint design

Minimal aircraft modification

Pods are easily transferred between aircraft for optimum fleet management

AeroShield is the only Pod solution that supports protection by both DIRCM and flares, while fully complying with EASA/FAA civil aviation regulation procedures. AeroShield is already field-proven and in operational use on VIP aircraft.