Leonardo’s Multiple Aperture Infra-Red System Completes First Flight Test

Leonardo’s Multiple Aperture Infra-Red (MAIR) system installed on a testbed helicopter has completed its first flight test, the company announced Tuesday.

The MAIR system provides crews with spherical missile warning, Hostile Fire Indication (HFI), day and night imaging and Infra-Red Search and Track (IRST) functionality.

It departed from La Spezia on the coast of Italy on a round-trip flight path which took it past nearby Genova. During the test, the MAIR operated as expected and was able to record data throughout the flight. Further flights will now take place to verify the MAIR’s full suite of modes.

MAIR is platform-agnostic and can also be integrated on fixed-wing combat aircraft as well as larger transport and surveillance aircraft. It can boost survivability by automatically cueing protective measures such as the Company’s Miysis Directed Infra-Red CounterMeasure (DIRCM) system in response to threats. In this scenario, MAIR would detect, track, classify and declare if an incoming missile is a threat and then pass the information to Miysis, which would then defeat the missile by shining a laser precisely onto its seeker, steering the missile away from the host aircraft.

The company has produced Skyward-G IRST system for Saab’s Gripen E jet, and PIRATE IRST system for Eurofighter systems earlier.