Considering the interest of the new technology and the important market abroad for such an innovative countermeasure, plans are currently underway to market the decoy flare by 1999. Achievement Pyrophoric decoy flares are liquid-based countermeasures which combust spontaneously in contact with air and produce a thermal signature very similar to that of aircraft engines. The decoy is designed to act as a false target, drawing the attention of infrared-guided missiles away from military aircraft.
Pyrophoric decoys can fool missiles able to ignore conventional flares.
A number of prototypes have been developed and tested in DREV s open-jet wind tunnel over the past few years. The results obtained during this flight testing program made it possible to finalize the development of the flare. The basic flare design is so flexible that a family of flares could with minimal changes be developed for the protection of other types of aircraft. In view of the interest of the Canadian Forces for this new technology and the important market abroad, Bristol Aerospace Ltd., Winnipeg, in partnership with SNC IT, Le Gardeur, Quebec, have signed an industrialization agreement with the Department to make the new decoy flare available to the Canadian Forces by 1999.