The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems $114 million in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contracts for their AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning Systems (CMWS).
The CMWS system is designed for rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft and combines missile warning, hostile fire indication, and countermeasure controls. This system has been proven to be effective in combat and offers advanced threat detection and countermeasure control capabilities that protect aircraft and air crews that operate in hostile battlefield conditions.
“Battlefields are increasingly contested, and airborne armed forces around the world must be able to detect and defeat modern infrared threats,” said Jennifer Bartley, deputy product line director of Integrated Survivability Solutions at BAE Systems. “When stealth is not an option, CMWS provides a shield that enables aircraft survivability and mission execution.”
CMWS systems have been installed on various platform types worldwide. It’s the standard missile warning and hostile fire detection system for U.S. Army aircraft, has millions of combat flight hours, and has a proven ability to protect aircraft and save lives in evolving threat environments.
With the new FMS contracts, some additional U.S. allies are now procuring CMWS for its proven survivability capabilities. These allies will use these systems to protect existing fleets and newly acquired aircraft, including AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook, and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.
CMWS is compatible with expendable countermeasure dispensers, including BAE Systems’ AN/ALE-47 Airborne Countermeasures Dispenser System and Smart D2 next-generation countermeasure system, as well as laser-based directable infrared countermeasure systems.
BAE Systems’ CMWS is part of the company’s Intrepid Shield layered approach to aircraft and ground platform survivability, leveraging the full electromagnetic spectrum to detect, exploit, and counter advanced threats. CMWS is designed and manufactured at BAE Systems’ facilities in Nashua, New Hampshire; Austin, Texas; and Huntsville, Alabama.
