Northrop Grumman  has shipped an initial batch of Common Infrared Countermeasure  missile defense systems to the U.S. Army  as part of an engineering and manufacturing development contract awarded in August 2015. The Army received the CIRCMs after the company completed software qualification tests to evaluate the system's performance and compliance with program requirements, Northrop said Tuesday. CIRCM is designed to help protect rotary wing and medium fixed wing aircraft from man-portable air-defense systems and other heat-seeking munitions. Carl Smith, vice president of the mission solutions, land and avionics C4ISR division at Northrop, said company works with its partners Daylight Solutions and Leonardo to bring the technology into the hands of warfighters.