OVERVIEW: The Plessey Shield is a ship-mounted missile decoy system introduced in the late 1990s. It deploys both radar-reflective chaff and infrared flares to protect naval vessels from incoming missile threats.

DETAILS: Developed by GEC-Marconi (later BAE Systems) under UK Ministry of Defence sponsorship and entered service by 1998. The system comprises modular launcher banks of chaff rockets (P8) and IR flare rockets (P6), typically grouped in clusters of three tubes, configurable up to twelve tubes per launcher bank. Chaff rockets can reach standoff ranges up to 2 km, while IR flares deploy clouds at distances between 40–160 m. Installed on various NATO and allied ships including Singapore’s Victory-class corvettes until phased out in the early 2000s. Roughly 150 units were produced by 1998.

FONCTION:
Launched manually or automatically from deck-mounted launcher banks.
Fires rockets loaded with either chaff or infrared flares based on detected threat type.
Deploys decoy clouds to seduce radar-guided or heat-seeking missiles away from the ship.

SOURCE:
Forecast International PDF (ARC_ID 729) ; Maritime Engineering Journal (Restigouche) PDF ; Seaforces.org – Victory-class corvette equipment list