An infrared countermeasure (IRCM) is a device designed to protect aircraft from infrared homing ("heat seeking") missiles by confusing the missiles' infrared guidance system so that they will miss their target.

First deployed during the Vietnam War, they have been enhanced over the years to be lighter, more portable, and more reliable, but the basic principle is the same.

Infrared missile seekers of the first generation typically used a spinning reticle with a pattern on it that modulates infrared energy before it falls on a detector (A mode of operation called Spin scan). The patterns used differ from seeker to seeker, but the principle is the same. By modulating the signal, the steering logic can tell where the infrared source of energy is relative to the missile direction of flight. In more recent designs the missile optics will rotate and the rotating image is projected on a stationary reticle (a mode called Conical scan) or stationary set of detectors which generates a pulsed signal which is processed by the tracking logic. Most shoulder launched (MANPADS) systems use this type of seeker, as do many air defense systems and air to air missiles (for example the AIM-9L).

Philippe Briand (born October 26, 1950) is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Indre-et-Loire department, and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement.