ST. LOUIS, 24 June 2009. Missile defense system designers at Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Systems sector in Baltimore needed electronic components for the company's AN/AAQ-24(V) directional infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system. They found their solution from LaBarge Inc. in St. Louis.

DIRCM defends a wide variety of aircraft from infrared missile guidance systems, particularly from shoulder-fired heat seeking missile systems. Northrop Grumman awarded LaBarge a $2.3 million contract to continue to produce electronic equipment DIRCM.

Northrop Grumman's DIRCM is to be installed on several hundred military aircraft to protect about 48 different types of large fixed-wing transports and helicopters from heat seeking missiles.

The system functions by automatically detecting an infrared missile launch, determining if it is a threat, and activating a high-intensity laser weapon countermeasure system to track and defeat the missile.

Production at LaBarge's Tulsa, Okla., facility will begin next October, and finish in early 2010. For more information contact LaBarge online at www.labarge.com.