Flare (countermeasure)

Okay kiddo, sometimes when planes are flying in the sky, bad guys called missiles might try to attack them. But don't worry, planes have a cool trick called a flare.

A flare is like a bright and hot sparkly thing that the plane shoots out into the air. When the missile sees the flare, it thinks it's the plane and goes after it instead of the real plane.

It's like playing a game of hide-and-seek and throwing a toy somewhere else to trick the seeker into going after the wrong thing. The flare is the toy and the missile is the seeker.

And that's how planes use flares as a countermeasure to stay safe from bad guys trying to attack them!