Aug 25, 2026

US12717351 - Air-based laser counter-countermeasure system

An air-based counter-countermeasure (CCM) system includes an autonomous or semi-autonomous unmanned aircraft capable of deployment to an area of a countermeasure system having (1) a laser detector to receive and identify an incident laser signal as a target designator signal and (2) one or more countermeasure subsystems operative in response to an output of the laser detector to deploy corresponding countermeasures against a laser target designator. The CCM system further includes a laser-based CCM subsystem carried by the aircraft, the CCM subsystem being configured and operative, during the deployment of the aircraft, to direct a simulated target designator laser signal to the laser detector of the countermeasure system to trigger one or more of the countermeasures and thereby reduce protective ability of the countermeasure system against subsequent laser-guided attack.

Assignee: TEXTRON SYSTEMS CORPORATION
Inventors: William Bignon Agassounon, Anton Zavriyev, Robert Lloyd Steadman, Abel Oak Livingstone, Henry Joseph Finneral
Filing date: 2024-09-17

The patent describes an air-based counter-countermeasure system utilizing an unmanned aircraft equipped with a laser detector and countermeasure subsystems to identify and respond to laser target designator signals. It includes a laser-based subsystem that simulates target designator signals to trigger countermeasures, thereby diminishing the effectiveness of the countermeasure system against future laser-guided attacks.

Claim 1

1 . An air-based counter-countermeasure system, comprising: an autonomous or semi-autonomous unmanned aircraft capable of deployment to an area of a countermeasure system having (1) a laser detector to receive and identify an incident laser signal as a target designator signal and (2) one or more countermeasure subsystems operative in response to an output of the laser detector to deploy corresponding countermeasures against a laser target designator; and a laser-based counter-countermeasure (CCM) subsystem carried by the aircraft, the CCM subsystem being configured and operative, during the deployment of the aircraft, to direct a simulated target designator laser signal to the laser detector of the countermeasure system to trigger one or more of the countermeasures and thereby reduce protective ability of the countermeasure system against subsequent laser-guided attack; wherein the CCM subsystem includes (1) a camera and control electronics constructed and arranged to provide associated automatic target recognition (ATR) functionality to identify the countermeasure system as a target, and (2) a laser subsystem configured and operative to generate and direct the simulated target designator laser signal to the countermeasure system. an autonomous or semi-autonomous unmanned aircraft capable of deployment to an area of a countermeasure system having (1) a laser detector to receive and identify an incident laser signal as a target designator signal and (2) one or more countermeasure subsystems operative in response to an output of the laser detector to deploy corresponding countermeasures against a laser target designator; and a laser-based counter-countermeasure (CCM) subsystem carried by the aircraft, the CCM subsystem being configured and operative, during the deployment of the aircraft, to direct a simulated target designator laser signal to the laser detector of the countermeasure system to trigger one or more of the countermeasures and thereby reduce protective ability of the countermeasure system against subsequent laser-guided attack; wherein the CCM subsystem includes (1) a camera and control electronics constructed and arranged to provide associated automatic target recognition (ATR) functionality to identify the countermeasure system as a target, and (2) a laser subsystem configured and operative to generate and direct the simulated target designator laser signal to the countermeasure system.

Google Patents

https://patents.google.com/patent/US12717351

USPTO PDF

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/12717351