Solid State Infrared Flare

The use of night vision equipment on the battlefield is a well documented success, and under some conditions an infrared flare may enhance this advantage. Currently, US armed services use the M-278 Infrared flare rocket to this end. The objective of this effort is the development of a replacement for the M-278 Infrared Flare using LED technology. The operational difficulties of the present system are related to the poorly controlled chemical combustion nature of the source. A solid state LED-based technology upgrade is ideal as it does not generate high internal temperatures, has high reliability, and can be engineered to radiate no energy outside the desired band (700-1100 nm). The Infrared LED flare system will be comprised of an energy storage system, control electronics, power regulation, cooling system, LED emitter array, beam forming optics, and mechanical support envelope. LED testing will be performed to drive devices into the extreme high output regimes, which are atypical of most LED applications, while measuring photometric, distribution and lifetime data. The requirements, possible solutions and integration will be investigated for the optical, power, thermal, and control systems.