Low Visibility Decoy Flare

Low visibility rotary aircraft decoys are needed to protect vehicles against heat seeking missile attacks without illuminating the target which exposes the aircraft to small arms fire and potentially compromising the mission. The novel approach to this challenge is to produce a decoy which emits only in the bands of interest utilizing techniques such as containment and composition selection to optimize performance from the limited volume of existing dispensers. Reactive materials will be used to generate heat which will produce a hot cloud of molten metal and hot CO2 gas neither of which will produce a visible signature, but will produce the IR signal desired. This effort can be leveraged to create a non visible signaling flare useful for covert target marking and covert rescue efforts. BENEFITS: Commercial aircraft decoy protection can benefit from this technology. The development of a low temperature/ low visibility decoy will allow the devices to be deployed without the risk of fires while still providing safety for the aircraft, particularly during take off and landings.