New Northrop Grumman Laser Threat Terminator Aims to Aid Army Missile Seeker Countermeasure Efforts

APOPKA, Fla., Oct. 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)

Northrop Grumman Corporation recently delivered its new All Semiconductor Airborne Laser Threat Terminator (ASALTT™) to the U.S. Army's Information and Intelligence Warfare Directorate (I2WD) Seeker Effects Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland where it will be used to support the development of advanced missile seeker countermeasure techniques.

ASALTT™ is an opto-mechanical and environmentally stable laser designed to take advantage of the most advanced laser technologies from government, industry and academia available today to defeat enemy threats. Northrop Grumman's Laser Systems business unit is under contract with the Army's Information Intelligence Warfare Directorate to provide the ASALTT™ in support of ongoing research and development work at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

"Northrop Grumman is pleased to provide the Information and Intelligence Warfare Directorate with a laser that supports these important testing activities," said Gordon Stewart, vice president and general manager of the Laser Systems business unit. "Ultimately, it is the warfighter who benefits from the development of advanced seeker countermeasure techniques."

The ASALTT™'s MOSA Inside™ architecture combines and co-aligns into a single laser output, using the best technologies available from laser diodes, interband cavity lasers, quantum cascade lasers, fiber and more traditional laser sources from the ultraviolet through long wave infrared bands to accomplish not only missile defeat, but also many other critical missions for the warfighter.

The ASALTT™'s design allows both the system developer and the threat exploiter the ultimate degree of flexibility in waveform, wavelength and power control to maximize the system's effectiveness and the platform's survivability.

Northrop Grumman Laser Systems is one of the world's leading manufacturers of military Electro-Optical (EO) targeting systems. These include ground-based (man portable, handheld and vehicle mounted) EO imaging/ranging systems for target location, laser designators/markers for precise guidance of smart munitions, and airborne laser rangefinders and designators fielded onboard many of the world's most sophisticated manned and unmanned aircraft.