System, device and method of protecting aircrafts against incoming missiles and threats
The present invention includes a system for protecting an aircraft against one or more incoming threats. The system includes one or more electro-optic sensors to scan an area around the aircraft for one or more possible incoming threats, and to generate an indication signal once an incoming threat is detected; an integrated unit combining a Missile Approach Confirmation Sensor (MACS) with Directed Infra-Red Counter Measure (DIRCM), to verify the incoming threat and to activate a countermeasure against the verified incoming threat; and a processor to receive data from said one or more electro-optic sensors and the integrated MACS-DIRCM unit, and to select a countermeasure technique for deployment against the incoming threat.
1. A system for protecting an aircraft against one or more incoming threats, the system comprising:
one or more electro-optic sensors to scan an area around the aircraft for one or more possible incoming threats, and to generate an indication signal once an incoming threat is detected;
an integrated unit combining a Missile Approach Confirmation Sensor (MACS) with Directed Infra-Red Counter Measure (DIRCM), to verify the incoming threat and to activate a countermeasure against the verified incoming threat, wherein the integrated MACS with DIRCM comprises: a threat parameter generator to generate threat parameters during verification of a threat, and to provide said threat parameters to a spectrum selector to select spectrum occupancy for a countermeasure unit; and
a processor to receive data from said one or more electro-optic sensors and the integrated MACS-DIRCM unit, and to select a countermeasure technique for deployment against the incoming threat.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electro-optic sensors substantially continuously sense the area around the aircraft for incoming threats.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the MACS-DIRCM unit comprises a plurality of MACS-DIRCM units having a plurality of non-identical fields-of-view, respectively.
4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a dual-axis steering gimbal to slew said MACS-DIRCM unit to a direction of the incoming threat.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein said MACS-DIRCM unit comprises one or more pulse Doppler radar units.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein said MACS-DIRCM unit comprises a high-power laser transmitter.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein said high-power laser transmitter is part of an antenna structure of said MACS-DIRCM unit.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein a verification functionality and a countermeasure functionality of the MACS-DIRCM unit are mounted on a common gimbal.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the MACS-DIRCM unit comprises:
a threat parameter generator to generate threat parameters during verification of a threat, and to provide said threat parameters to a countermeasure generator for construction of a countermeasure waveform for the incoming threat.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein said countermeasure generator comprises means to update countermeasure parameters based on updated verification parameters.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein said countermeasure generator comprises a target locator to determine a target location during verification of the threat.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein said countermeasure generator is to be activated during activation of a verification functionality of said MACS-DIRCM unit.
13. The system of claim 9 , wherein said countermeasure generator is to be activated after completion of a verification functionality of said MACS-DIRCM unit.
14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a housing comprising a radome, wherein said radome allows transmission of electromagnetic signals and optic signals.
15. The system of claim 1 , wherein said processor comprises:
a data fusion unit to perform data fusion of data from the one or more electro-optic sensors and from the MACS-DIRCM unit.
16. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more MACS-DIRCM units are connected to one or more laser generators in parallel.
17. A system for protecting an aircraft against one or more incoming threats, the system comprising:
one or more electro-optic sensors to scan an area around the aircraft for one or more possible incoming threats, and to generate an indication signal once an incoming threat is detected:
an integrated unit combining a Missile Approach Confirmation Sensor (MACS) with Directed Infra-Red Counter Measure (DIRCM), to verify the incoming threat and to activate a countermeasure against the verified incoming threat,
wherein the integrated unit combining said MACS with DIRCM is implemented as a single Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) able to perform both verification and countermeasure functions; and
a processor to receive data from said one or more electro-optic sensors and the integrated MACS-DIRCM unit, and to select a countermeasure technique for deployment against the incoming threat.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein said integrated MACS-DIRCM unit comprises one or more pulse Doppler radar units.
19. The system of claim 17 , wherein said integrated MACS-DIRCM unit comprises a high-power laser transmitter.
20. The system of claim 17 , wherein a verification functionality and a countermeasure functionality of the integrated MACS-DIRCM unit are mounted on a common gimbal.