SELEX awarded £2m R&D grant

Scottish engineers have been awarded a £2m

grant to develop new technology that will help protect aircraft from terrorist attacks.

The announcement, made yesterday by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen, will see SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems (S&AS) develop the next generation of Directional Infra Red Counter Measure (DIRCM) systems.

The project will enable the company, which is headquartered in Italy, to expand its Edinburgh R&D facility, creating and sustaining 60 jobs. The project is also expected to have spin-off benefits for other Scottish companies who work with SELEX S&AS, generating an additional £160m for the Scottish economy over the next seven years.

DIRCM systems can detect when missiles have been launched and whether they pose a threat to aircraft, before warning the crew of any plane which may be under attack and activating a high-power, countermeasure system to track and defeat the threat.

SELEX S&AS co-developed the first generation of DIRCM systems for the military sector with partner company Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC).