DIRCM Explained

21 April 2022

Infra-Red Man Portable Air Defence Systems (IR MANPADS) present a difficult threat for aircraft to counter since they are widely proliferated, can be fired from almost anywhere, have a high lethality and can reach their target in just a few seconds. In order to defeat this threat, countermeasures must be very fast, reliably effective and automated.

Enter the DIRCM.

What is a DIRCM?

A Directed Infrared Counter Measure (DIRCM) uses a sophisticated laser to disrupt the incoming IR ‘heat-seeking’ missile’s ability to commence, continue or reacquire tracking on an aircraft’s heat signature. This disruption results in the missile missing the aircraft, ultimately saving the mission and bringing the crew home safe.

Why a DIRCM?

As the threat has continued to evolve, the countermeasures have needed to evolve in parallel. Earlier generation MANPADS would lock onto the exhaust plumes of aircraft, which was countered by deploying expendable, quantity limited, flares.

These flares work based on the principle of presenting a brighter and hotter signature to seduce the missile away from the aircraft. This has led to the latest MANPADS developing greater sensitivity that could differentiate a flare from a sustained heat source, such as an engine. As a result, other parts of the aircraft can be tracked, not just the exhaust plume.

In addition, traditional flare solutions have become more complex to dispense, are limited to the amount that can be loaded on the aircraft and their carriage can be prohibited at civilian airfields.

Adversary tactics have also developed, with high-value targets most likely targeted by multiple MANPADS simultaneously, and therefore a faster countermeasure response is required to defeat multiple, concurrent threats.

With a laser energy source embedded in a highly agile enclosed turret system, a DIRCM can be infinite in duration and provide protection for the whole mission, keeping aircrews safe even in dense threat engagement environments.

Multi-head to defeat a multi-threat

Leonardo’s DIRCM philosophy is to ‘Jam Early, Jam Hard’. Whereas flares are omnidirectional, a DIRCM focusses a beam of light directly at an incoming missile. However, that beam of light needs to:

  • Be able to have line of sight to the missile – a DIRCM with a twin or triple turret system allows for multiple threats to be countered simultaneously, no matter how the aircraft may be manoeuvring
  • Be able to track and engage in a very short space of time – MANPADS can be supersonic in less than a second after firing
  • Emit significant laser energy power to disrupt the missile seeker for long enough so the missile is unable to acquire, re-acquire or track the aircraft

As soon as an aircraft manoeuvres, or there are multiple missiles fired, a DIRCM system must be able to react. As such, strategic positioning of multiple turrets is critical to ensuring the ultimate protection of the aircraft, aircrew and mission.

Introducing Miysis – Leonardo’s multi-turret DIRCM

A DIRCM is occasionally seen as a ‘nice-to-have’. At Leonardo, we would argue that it is now a ‘must-have’ in order to operate safely in the unstable world’s lower airspace, and in particular, the take-off / landing phases of flight – the heart of the MANPADS’s threat environment.

With the proliferation of advanced, sophisticated MANPADS and a continued need to operate (both militarily and civil) anywhere in the world where the exact threat location is unknown, Leonardo’s Miysis DIRCM continues the company’s world-leading expertise in the development of laser technology and protection systems. It provides a small, discrete, multi-turret yet exceptionally powerful solution to ensure the survivability of any air platform, aircrew and mission from advanced IR MANPADS threats.

Find out more about the Miysis DIRCM and the dedicated Leonardo team passionate about bringing people home safely in the articles below.

Download the Miysis DIRCM brochure


A focus on Miysis

A Directed Infrared Counter Measure (DIRCM) uses a sophisticated laser to disrupt the incoming IR ‘heat-seeking’ missile’s ability to commence, continue or reacquire tracking on an aircraft’s heat signature. This disruption results in the missile missing the aircraft, ultimately saving the mission and bringing the crew home safe.

Despite a shift in UK operational focus in recent years, the threat from man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS) has not disappeared. We look at how lower airspace is becoming increasingly contested, and why ongoing conflicts and regional instability have increased this threat further.

Campaign Manager, Tom Nash, answers some of the most common questions about how Leonardo’s Miysis Directed Infrared Counter Measure (DIRCM) could become part of an aircraft’s self-protection system.

Thanks to the vast array of knowledge and experience built up at its site in Edinburgh over nearly 80 years, Leonardo’s Centre of Excellence in Scotland is today the fulcrum for development of the world’s most advanced DIRCM systems.

As threats to military aircraft have proliferated and accelerated over time, so has Leonardo’s expertise in developing counter measures that protect fast jets, transport aircraft, helicopters and their crews around the globe. Discover how Leonardo's Miysis DIRCM is already protecting airborne systems for UK and NATO end-users.

What lies beneath the Miysis DIRCM? With a hard-wired commitment to continuous improvement, Leonardo has been producing world-class, life-saving technology, along with the highest levels of customer support, during the past four decades. Learn how the entire team remains motivated, energised and immensely proud of their work.

Andrew Chilton explains why he believes that the Miysis Directed Infrared Counter Measure (DIRCM) delivers the ultimate in discrete and discerning self-protection solution for VVIP aircraft.

The Most Advanced Solution for Head-of-State and Government VIP Protection

One of the greatest threats to Head of State/Government VIP aircraft principal passengers and their crews is that posed by Infrared Man Portable Air Defence Systems. Miysis DIRCM provides proven laser-based protection equipment to ensure the safety of VIP passengers.


Electro Optics and InfraRed Technology

Electro Optics and InfraRed Technology

Leonardo’s Electro Optics and InfraRed technologies play a crucial role in providing total situational awareness, targeting and self-protection to armed forces on land, at sea and in the air. This includes being recognised as a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced, high energy, airborne lasers, accounting for over 60% of the world’s demand.

Leonardo wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation that makes Service Personnel feel safer

The Innovation Award category acknowledges the ingenuity of Leonardo’s infrared countermeasure (IRCM) technology, which protects aircraft against heat-seeking missiles.

Leonardo wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation that makes Service Personnel feel safer

Miysis DIRCM news