ST. LOUIS – LaBarge Inc. has been awarded a $2.3 million contract from Northrop Grumman Corp. to continue to produce electronic equipment for the AN/AAQ-24(V) Directional Infrared Countermeasure system.

LaBarge has worked on the program for more than a decade.

The DIRCM system is scheduled for installation on several hundred military aircraft to protect approximately 48 different types of large fixed-wing transports and rotary-wing platforms from infrared missile attacks.

Production at LaBarge's Tulsa, OK facility is expected to begin in October 2009 and continue through January 2010.