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F-35 JSF Electronic Warfare Suite 'ready to fly'
August 27, 2004 (by
Lieven Dewitte) -
BAE Systems celebrated early delivery of its low-cost, lightweight, Electronic Warfare (EW) suite to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., for development of the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a multi-role, supersonic, stealth aircraft.
The EW suite will serve as the nerve center for F-35 pilots, identifying threats from the air and the ground, including infrared- and radar-guided missiles. It will be enhancing their situational awareness and self-protection through next generation threat identification, monitoring, analysis and countermeasures.
It's more compact than existing systems, merging several pieces of a plane's protective gear into one package. "It's twice the capability at maybe one-quarter of the weight and less than half the cost," said Don Donovan, president of BAE's electronic protection business unit.
BAE Systems is now slated to start testing the EW system hardware on Lockheed Martin's Cooperative Avionics Testbed (CATB) aircraft in 2005.
"Early testing means the EW system - including radar warning, electronic support measures, embedded low observable apertures and countermeasures - will be subjected to a longer period in integration. That allows us more leeway in providing the best possible systems to the production aircraft," said Dan Gobel, BAE Systems JSF EW program director.
The company says its contract for the project is worth $1 billion over 10 years.
It's more compact than existing systems, merging several pieces of a plane's protective gear into one package. "It's twice the capability at maybe one-quarter of the weight and less than half the cost," said Don Donovan, president of BAE's electronic protection business unit.
BAE Systems is now slated to start testing the EW system hardware on Lockheed Martin's Cooperative Avionics Testbed (CATB) aircraft in 2005.
"Early testing means the EW system - including radar warning, electronic support measures, embedded low observable apertures and countermeasures - will be subjected to a longer period in integration. That allows us more leeway in providing the best possible systems to the production aircraft," said Dan Gobel, BAE Systems JSF EW program director.
The company says its contract for the project is worth $1 billion over 10 years.
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