ORLEANS, November 5th 2009 – CILAS recently delivered to the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) the prototype of the compact laser source MILDA – Mid Infrared Laser for DIRCM Application. The DGA awarded this project to CILAS two years ago, following the initial studies conducted for the CESAM project.

Launched by DGA in 2002, the CESAM project involves the development and production of a jamming laser source to be used by military transport aircraft for self-protection purposes.

The first stage of the project was the validation of the design principles and feasibility of using a laser-jamming system to counteract the threat of auto-guiding infrared missiles (MANPADS or man-portable air-defence systems). This second stage, which is prior to a series of trials, is essential for CILAS since the potential market of laser sources for Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) using infrared jamming represents several million euros.

This compact jamming laser source, which could be integrated into a future self-protection system, for the A400M for example, will transmit beams in low and average infra-red spectral bands at a high rate, thus ensuring a better effectiveness of jamming. The main characteristics are:

·    strong brightness associated with a top-quality beam;
·    frequency-modulation capacities;
·    full performances obtained quasi-instantaneously.