News in a hurry from JED. Part 2

 
+
-
edit
 

Jag_22

втянувшийся
PROGRAM MONITOR





HARM Upgrade Tackles GPS Jammers, Dual Seeker Design Moves Forward
The Navy’s HARM program is in the process of developing three upgrades to the weapon. (US Navy photo)
The US Naval Weapons Center at China Lake, CA, completed the second test firing of its AGM-88C High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) Block V last month. Fielded as a software upgrade, the “home on jam” Block V improvement was developed by HARM manufacturer Raytheon Systems Company (Lewisville, TX) in conjunction with the Navy HARM Program Management Office, PMA-242. Block V enables the anti-radar missile to attack jammers that interfere with Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation signals. The Navy will use Block V HARMs to ensure that next-generation GPS-guided munitions such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Joint Stand-Off Weapon will not lose their precision guidance capabilities in the face of low-cost, low-power GPS jammers.
During the tests, a Navy F-18 launched a HARM against a simulated jammer. Although no further details of the test were revealed, the Navy and Falon Inc. (San Diego, CA) have developed LOCO GPSI, an A- to D-Band pylon-mounted receiver system that detects and targets sources of GPS interference (see “US Navy to Target GPS Jammers, JED, September 1997). In addition to the “home on jam” capability, the Block V upgrade also provides the AGM-88C with improved “geographic specificity,” and a better capability to operate against advanced radar waveforms, according to Raytheon.

In a second HARM upgrade program, the US Navy, Germany and Italy have joined forces to develop a GPS navigation upgrade to the missile. Dubbed the tri-national HARM Precision Navigation Upgrade (PNU), industry sources said the program was developed in part as a result of NATO operations in Bosnia, where Serb national forces set up mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries near schools and other civilian buildings. The PNU provides a GPS guidance capability that allows the missile to be programmed either prior to flight or during flight to attack a specific set of coordinates, using GPS guidance. Even if the emitter shuts down, said a Navy source, the HARM will not fly out of the “box” of pre-set coordinates, minimizing collateral damage. In the Navy, HARMs are carried on the F/A-18 and EA-6B, while Germany and Italy employ the weapon on their Tornado aircraft. Companies participating in the program include Raytheon; BGT of Ueberlingen, Germany; and Alenia Difesa’s Missile Systems Div., Rome, Italy. A PNU tri-national agreement was signed this past summer, and funding has been released to the companies.

A third upgrade program, managed by PMA-242, is developing a new dual-mode seeker for the HARM. Under this effort, known as the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) program, Science and Applied Technologies (SAT) Inc. (San Diego, CA) has received a small-business innovative research (SBIR) Phase III contract valued at over $100 million to demonstrate that a dual-mode seeker fitted to the HARM can engage and destroy hostile radar systems even after the radar shuts down. The program will fit the HARM with a new broadband anti-radiation homing seeker integrated with a millimeter-wave (MMW) seeker and GPS midcourse guidance. Designed to contend with the shorter emission times of modern radar systems and savvy radar operators, the AARGM can be launched reactively or preemptively and will perform autonomous targeting during flight, allowing the launch aircraft to fire the missile immediately rather than waiting to gather targeting data first. During the terminal phase of the missile’s flight, the MMW seeker will use automatic target recognition algorithms to attack the SAM system’s command vehicle rather than the transmitting antenna, which may be located a safe distance from the vehicle.

Phase III of the program began in 1994, with current efforts centered around designing a 10-in. brassboard seeker for laboratory tests, developing a “form-factored seeker” to be integrated into the HARM and performing demonstration test firings. If demonstrated successfully, the dual-mode seeker concept could be applied to other missiles in the Navy’s inventory. — J. Knowles





Competitors Line Up for UK EW Tester
The UK’s end-to-end tester will be used on Harrier aircraft initially. (British Aerospace photo)
The UK Ministry of Defense’s (MOD’s) search for an end-to-end EW tester for a number of its fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft began to move again in August, with the submission of industry responses to a detailed questionnaire issued by the RAF’s Test Support Management Office (RAF Wyton). The questionnaire is seen by some as an initial screening process to weed out less-serious companies and is expected to reduce the field to between three and six competitors.

The system is to allow a complete end-to-end check of aircraft self-protection suites, from radar warning receivers to RF jammers, on such offensive, defensive and reconnaissance aircraft as the GR.7 Harrier; the GR.1B Jaguar, the GR.1, and GR.4 Tornado; and the MR.2 and R.1 Nimrod, as well as helicopters such the EH.101, the HC.1 Puma and the HAR.3 Sea King. The tester will evaluate installed EW equipment in greater depth and with more accuracy than the UK’s current test equipment.

The specifications for the program were initially closely modeled on those of the US Joint Services Electronic Combat Systems Tester program, under contract to AAI Corp. (Hunt Valley, MD) but have been extensively modified since then. One unique goal in the British program is believed to be nonintrusive cable testing.

The initial system will require five “engines,” to generate test signals and collect self-protection responses for evaluation. These systems are slated for use with GR.7 Harrier aircraft and will use “hats” (radiating and receiving antenna covers) designed specifically for the GR.7s. The contract will include an option for 25 more “engines” for the remaining aircraft. Hats for the additional aircraft types will be covered under a separate contract. The cost of designing and building several types of hats for the various platform types could prove more expensive than the engines, said an industry source.

A request for proposals is expected by the end of 1998. The real competition will be during later hardware tests. Each company will be required to submit a complete set (possibly two) of its proposed equipment, for what the British refer to as a “bikini competition” — a period of hardware evaluation that could last a month and include environmental testing. Industry sources believe that testing may begin as early as April of 1999, with a possible contract award in June or July.

Companies expressing interest are believed to include US, European and Israeli companies such as AAI, Elettronica (UK), Daimler-Benz Aerospace, Racal Instruments, Amherst Systems Inc., GEC-Marconi, AIL Systems Inc. and Prospective Computer Analysts, Inc., some of them in teaming arrangements. — S. Carroll and J. Knowles





Competitors Line up for UK EW Tester
The Department of Defense’s Office of Special Technology (Ft. Washington, MD) has selected the Roadrunner electronic support measures (ESM) system, manufactured by Sensys Technologies, Inc. (Newington, VA), as part of an upgrade of the US Navy’s Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare System (MIUWS), designed for surface and subsurface surveillance in littoral areas.

The MIUWS, as originally fielded, consists of the AN/TSQ-108A Radar Sonar Surveillance Center (RSSC) van, including a SPS-64 radar and an AN/SQR-17A for sonar buoy processing. Lessons learned from Operation Desert Shield/Storm, which saw the deployment of the MIUWS, led to the MIUWS Upgrade Program, an ongoing project to synergistically enhance the MIUWS hardware. These upgrades are focused on improving inshore undersea warfare force capabilities versus the changing threat environment, while ensuring compatibility and interoperability with fleet systems. They will include a number of enhancements: a thermal-imaging sensor, a visual-imaging sensor, an X-band surface-search radar and radar-track system, an upgraded SQR-17A(V)3 acoustic processor, a Graphical Data Fusion System, a passive underwater array sensor string and an upgraded ESM system. Initially, the ALR-66(V)3, made by Litton Applied Technology (San Jose, CA), was selected to fill the ESM role. According to Navy sources, six upgraded MIUWS shelters — including the ALR-66(V)3 ESM system — have been delivered to date, with the goal of upgrading most Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Units by the turn of the century. The next 14 MIUWS, however, will be fitted with the Roadrunner system.

The recent contract calls for Sensys to supply the Navy with 14 Roadrunner systems at a price of over $9 million, with deliveries extending into FY99. With options, however, Sensys could provide up to a total of 20 of the ESM systems, bringing the full value of the contract up to $14 million.

Once delivered, the Roadrunner systems will be integrated into the MIUWS by Tracor Systems Technologies, Inc. (Rockville, MD), a subsidiary of Marconi North America (Wayne, NJ). Tracor won a $25.9 million contract (including options) earlier this year for the refurbishment of the MIUWS’s command, control, computer, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. — B. Rivers





Comanche Program Reorganizes (Again)
The Army’s Comanche program has just completed a rescheduling and will soon receive a new ORD, replacing the one that has been force since the 1980s. (Boeing-Sikorsky photo)
The US Army’s RAH-66 Comanche program is undertaking a new reorganization as it prepares to accept a new operational requirements document (ORD), according to program officials. The program, which has already undergone several reorganizations in the decade and a half since its conception, has revised the schedule for the integration of key technologies and delivery of what the Army terms “preproduction prototypes.” Although Army sources would not discuss likely changes in the ORD, the current ORD has been in existence since the program’s inception, and the rewrite is thought likely to reflect changes in both performance characteristics and technology developments — both in terms of defensive and attack capabilities — that have occurred since the program began. The ORD rewrite is currently being staffed, according to Army Comanche officials.

Mid-development upgrades for this reconnaissance and attack helicopter, currently classified as an ACAT I program, may not be as traumatic as might be imagined, however, as the Comanche represents a shift away from the “black-box” paradigm and towards integrated avionics. Instead of individual systems, the Comanche makes use of open-architecture SEM-E technology, using Pentium 5 processors to run a variety of software programs on removable standard electronic modules (SEMs). Although the Army has not made any final decisions regarding Comanche EW, sources say the need for situational awareness will be addressed first, with RF contermeasures to be considered at a later date. In a separate effort, the Army has funded research from ITT Industries, Avionics Division (Clifton, NJ), for a receiver-only version of the ALQ-211 Suite of Integrated RF Countermeasures (SIRFC). According to industry sources, this work includes reducing the 17 SEMs used in a “full-up” version of SIRFC to 11 SEMs. Additionally, Tracor Aerospace (Landsdale, PA) will provide low-observable (LO) antennas for this version of the SIRFC. Program officials say that, to date, no EW equipment has been selected for the Comanche. They did add, however, that they were closely monitoring the SIRFC program, including the receiver-only version. At the moment there are no plans for a jammer for the Comanche, which relies instead on its small radar cross section (RCS), about 1/360th that of an AH-64 Apache, or roughly comparable to that of a Hellfire missile. Any jammer that the Comanche might eventually need would probably not require a high power output due to the platform’s low RCS. Progress on defining an EW solution for the Comanche is expected after a new ORD is apporved by the Army.

Irrespective of ORD changes, the Comanche program has just undergone a “funding-neutral” reorganization, at its own request, that pushes development of six preproduction prototype (PPP) aircraft back one year, from 2003 to 2004, in order to deliver more mission capable aircraft for use at Corps-level exercises in 2004. These PPP aircraft are in addition to the existing prototype and a second prototype due in April 1999. In addition, the reorganization specifies that the Comanche will receive its millimeter-wave fire control radar (FCR) much sooner than originally anticipated, moving the date from 2010 to the first lot of Comanches, produced in 2006.

The FCR is seen as a key component for the Comanche in its envisioned role as light-division attack helicopter, and it has been widely reported that one in every three Comanches will receive the Longbow FCR, manufactured by the Longbow Limited Liability Co., a joint venture between Northrop Grumman Electronics and Systems Sector (Baltimore, MD) and Lockheed Martin Electronics and Missiles (Orlando, FL). Faster-than-anticipated development of the Longbow — especially smaller, lighter versions more suited to the Comanche profile — is said to be the reason for the change in schedule. However, sources at Comanche prime Boeing-Sikorsky have indicated that, because other companies have developed capabilities similar to those of the Longbow, the Army has decided to compete the Comanche FCR. Although the timetable for procurement is uncertain, Army sources said that wind-tunnel testing of various aerodynamic solutions for a mast-mounted FCR has already begun, and studies have been done on LO shrouds to conceal the FCR. S. Carroll





Guardrail to Acquire USAF SIGINT Interoperability
The US Army’s Guardrail/Common Sensor aircraft will soon be linked with Air Force SIGINT assets. (TRW photo)
US Army’s RC-12 Guardrail/Common Sensor (GR/CS) aircraft will soon be able to link up with US Air Force (USAF) signals intelligence (SIGINT) systems when the Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate (I2WD) of the Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) begins fielding a GR/CS Interoperability Subsystem (GRIS) later this month.
The GRIS is a real-time sensor management system that will provide the GR/CS with the capability to collect and analyze data “from whatever the Air Force flies for SIGINT within line of sight, using an Interoperable Data Link (IDL),” according to James Hillson, acting branch chief, Fielded Systems Branch, Systems Engineering Division, I2WD. This interoperability with USAF platforms will allow Guardrail to simultaneously fly missions and coordinate emitter location information with the Air Force.

The primary components of the GRIS, the Deployable Ground Intercept Facility 2 (DGIF-2) provided by Raytheon Systems Co. (Falls Church, VA) and the Ground Control Processor VIII (GCP VIII) from Lockheed Martin Astronautics (Littleton, CO), are mounted in a lightweight multipurpose shelter carried on a HMMWV to facilitate rapid deployment. The GRIS is able to interface with the GR/CS system for analysis and distribution of SIGINT data collected from USAF platforms via the IDLs aboard the GR/CS aircraft (an RC-12K/N/P/Q) and the Integrated Processing Facility in the GR/CS ground station, which consists of four 40-ft vans.

Henry Muller, chief of the Engineering Support Division (I2WD), said the first of these interoperability systems will be fielded this month with the 1st Military Intelligence (MI) Battalion in Hungary. Hillson added that two other battalions will receive the GRIS next year: the 224th MI Battalion (Savannah, GA) in February and the 3rd MI Battalion (Korea) in April or May.

The GRIS was originally designed by the USAF and developed by I2WD. Integration of the new systems will be carried out by the Software Engineering Center of I2WD. The price tag for the three systems totals $11.2 million. At present, Hillson said, there are no plans to field any additional systems beyond these three. — B. Rivers





Multispectral Camouflage Tested
Product verification testing and operational testing for the Ultralightweight Camouflage Net System (ULCANS) Type IV, developed by Tracor Aerospace (Austin, TX) was scheduled to end late last month, according to Ken Whiteside, lead project engineer for ULCANS at the US Army Communications Electronics Command’s Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) at Ft. Belvoir, VA.

ULCANS is the replacement for the currently deployed Lightweight Camouflage Screening System (LCSS), developed in the 1970s, and is being developed to provide highly mobile and semimobile assets with better protection against enhanced multispectral threat sensors. In addition to its cloaking capabilities in visual, radar and very-near infrared (IR) spectra (which are similar to those of the LCSS), ULCANS expands the near-IR background matching to 2.5 microns and provides significantly enhanced concealment against thermal sensors, according to Whiteside. Tracor sources have reported a 42% reduction in thermal transmission through the screen. The ULCANS requirement was originally developed for Army aviators, in response to snagging and damage caused by the metal rings that bind the garnish material to the LCSS. The new system will be easier to deploy, as its radar-absorbing-material-coated garnish is directly sewn to the netting base, minimizing snagging. ULCANS is also 26% lighter than LCSS.

Laboratory tests were performed primarily at the NVESD and Aberdeen Proving Grounds and included radar, thermal, color and spectral reflectivity properties, as well as material tests such as breaking strength, tear strength and water absorption. Field tests were conducted primarily at White Sands Missile Range, NM, evaluating the system’s capabilities against visual, thermal/near IR and ground radar sensors. An imaging radar field test is scheduled to be conducted, as well as a winter-visual detection test.

The current ULCANS contract, for woodlands pattern, is a five-year effort originally awarded in September 1997; the next milestone decision, type classification, is expected in the first half of FY99, and a procurement order is expected shortly thereafter, according to Tracor. Army sources indicated that no final purchase quantities have been decided yet, but that current LCSS production capabilities are minimal. A fielding plan is being developed to meet the Army’s immediate demand for ULCANS, which will be the primary survivability system for all combat, combat support and combat service support units. Earlier estimates put the first year’s purchases of ULCANS at 27,000 units for the first two years and 54,000 units for the following two years. The expected value of the contract is over $100 million.

Desert development is scheduled to continue through the FY99 with a materials release in FY00. Arctic and urban development will begin following desert in FY01 to FY04. There are provisions in the current contract for the additional screens. S. Carroll





Simulator Contracts Awarded
Excalibur Systems Ltd. (Kanata, Ontario, Canada) has received a pair of contracts worth nearly $1 million for its simulation hardware and software products. Under the first contract, the company will supply 120 copies of its Virtual Integrated Electronic Warfare Simulator (VIEWS) CD-ROM software for use with the US Navy’s Portable Mission Avionics System Trainer (MAST) Program. Under the terms of the $500,000 deal, the company will supply 120 VIEWS runtime licenses, a VIEWS developer’s kit, a ULQ-16 emulation and a MAST client service software module. Run on multimedia PCs, VIEWS uses the company’s ThreatBuilder software to create emitter and scenarios in a simulated battlefield. The Navy contract was awarded by CACI, which is under contract with the Navy to support the MAST.

In a second award, valued at $460,000, Excalibur has sold a TS-100 test and evaluation system to ARGOSystems Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA). The simulator will be used for receiver testing and validation in a lab-based environment. ARGO develops naval, ground and airborne electronic support measures systems and will use the system in its signal processing and research development activities. — J. Knowles





Recce Pod Selected for Gripen
Although the formal contract was still under negotiation at press time, Saab AB and British Aerospace, the co-developers of the Gripen multirole fighter, have selected W. Vinten Ltd. (Suffolk, UK) to supply its Vicon 70 Series 72C reconnaissance pod for the export version of the aircraft. The pod will be fitted on the under-fuselage shoulder pylon of the Gripen and integrated with the aircraft’s onboard sensors such as radar.

The Vicon 70 Series 72C is a day/night low- and medium-level electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) reconnaissance pod designed specifically for the Gripen and is fitted with two EO/IR sensors with an onboard real-time scrolling-display. Imagery collected by the pod’s sensors can be recorded and replayed from S-VHS tape, or it can be projected directly into the cockpit. For night operations, the pod is fitted with the company’s IR Linescan sensor. The modular design allows a choice of two different EO sensors for day imaging: the short-range (up to 3 km) Type 8010-3A or the longer-range (3-10 km) Type 8010-3B. Vinten declined to disclose which of these had been chosen for the Gripen.

The pods have already been selected by other European air forces, including the UK’s Royal Air Force, and have been fitted to fixed-wing aircraft such as the Harrier, Tornado, Mirage, Piper Cheyenne and Cessna Citation, as well as a variety of rotary-wing aircraft. — B. Rivers






Air Force Simulator Competition Heats Up
Simulator heavyweights Amherst Systems Inc. (Buffalo, NY) and Comptek Federal Systems, Advanced Systems Div. (East Elmhurst, NY) are among the contenders in an upcoming Air Force EW simulation program that is shaping up to be a major contest. At stake is an estimated $2 million program to supply simulation hardware and software to test the EW systems in the Air Force’s B-1B Defensive Systems Upgrade Program (DSUP). The DSUP calls for the B-1B’s ALQ-161 RF countermeasures systems to be replaced with elements of the ALQ-214 Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system, including a techniques generator and fiber-optic towed decoys dispensed from the ALE-50 launcher. Driving the system will be an ALR-56M radar warning receiver.
Although a request for proposals (RFP) is yet to be issued, the Air Force announced last month that it has a requirement for an RF threat generator to support DSUP testing at the Air Force Flight Test Center (Edwards AFB, CA). In the past, the Air Force (and especially the 412 Test Wing at Edwards), has obtained Amherst CEESIM equipment for its EW test programs. However, Comptek has been selected to provide its AMES II simulators for IDECM development facilities at ITT, Sanders and the US Navy. As with the Air Force predilection for Amherst equipment, the Navy’s tendancy has been to buy its EW simulation equipment from Comptek.

Comptek could crack the Air Force market with a win in the DSUP program. On the other hand, Amherst could seal its position in the Air Force market with a win on one of the last major EW programs scheduled to pass through Edwards until the Joint Strike Fighter reaches the end of its development program nearly a decade from now. Sources could not say exactly when an RFP is expected, but estimated that it would be issued before the end of 1998. — J. Knowles n

Condor Seeks to Buy Litton Applied TechnologyCondor Systems of San Jose, CA, appeared to be in the final stages of closing a deal to acquire the Applied Technology Division (ATD) of Litton, also in San Jose, in early October. Applied Technology is one of the pioneers in self protection electronic warfare, having developed the first radar warning receivers introduced into Southeast Asia in the mid 1960s.

Earlier, ATD had acquired two other prominent radar warning and electronic support measures (ESM) companies, Dalmo-Victor and General Instruments. Applied Technology has the largest installed base of RWR’s and ESM systems worldwide, including the APR-39 and ALR-66, -67, -69 and -93 systems.

According to informed industry observers, ATD has a “sizable” backlog, with major EW programs underway in Greece and Taiwan and sales of over $100 million per year. ATD also has a development program for an advanced radar warning receiver — PLAID — for the USAF. In addition to the 250,000 square feet of facilities it occupies in San Jose, ATD also has a production facility in Grants Pass, OR.

Condor, although not known to be a player in the RWR field, has nonetheless made inroads on the international scene with their ESM system products, some of these at the expense of ATD where Condor prevailed over ATD’s ALR-66 ESM offerings.

The already protracted acquisition negotiations were expected to clear by mid-October when various legal issues were likely to be resolved.

However, late in the game, an additional complication surfaced when it was rumored in the European financial press that Marconi of the UK had shown serious interest in acquiring all of Litton.
— H. Gershanoff





BTG to Buy STAC
BTG Inc. (Fairfax, VA) has signed a letter of intent to acquire STAC Inc. (Fairfax, VA). According to the terms of the letter, BTG will purchase all of STAC’s common stock, for approximately $6.9 million. The companies expected the purchase to be finalized next month.
BTG is a publicly traded information systems and services company that recently received a $2.1 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency for a visualization architecture for the Integrated Virtual Environment for the warfighter advanced concept technology demonstration (see JED, January 1998). STAC, an employee-owned analysis and software development company, led the team that won a $20 million, five-year research and development program to develop the signals intelligence module for the Department of Defense-wide Joint Simulation System (see JED, August 1998). — S. Carroll





Laser Power Exceeds ABL Requirements
The flight-weighted laser module (FLM) of the Airborne Laser (ABL) exceeded its design output power in recent tests. (TRW photo)
In a recent demonstration of its flight-weighted laser module (FLM) designed for the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Airborne Laser (ABL) program, TRW (Redondo Beach, CA) has produced 110% of the design output power for the system’s first laser demonstration module. This follows the initial operation of the laser, known as “first light,” achieved by TRW in June (see “‘First Light’ Achieved for Airborne Laser Program,” JED, July 1998, pp. 30) and completes this phase of testing for the FLM.
The FLM test program is part of a $1.1-billion program-definition and risk-reduction (PDRR) contract awarded to Team ABL (consisting of TRW and program partners Boeing and Lockheed Martin) in November 1996 by the USAF Space and Missile Systems Center (Kirtland AFB, NM). TRW’s FLM will be mounted on a modified 747-400F aircraft (provided by Boeing) and is intended to destroy ballistic missiles during their boost phase. Operational aircraft will carry 14 of these FLMs, each weighing less than 3,000 lb. The PDRR contract covers the production, integration and fight testing of the first prototype ABL demonstration system, culminating in 2002 with the planned boost-phase shoot-down of a theater ballistic missile. An ABL engineering and manufacturing development program could begin as early as 2003.

Earlier, 26 lasing tests were conducted. These “hot-flow” tests, in which TRW’s engineers tried to make the FLM lase, were designed to optimize the performance of the laser module following “first light.” As a TRW source explained, “Every laser has its own personality.” The hot-flow tests identified the FLM’s idiosyncrasies, and TRW has now “solved the problems of geometry and flow” that appeared in the earlier tests.

The FLM is currently a multihundred-kilowatt chemical oxygen iodine laser, but TRW will be working towards the development of a megawatt-class laser for the program. The source pointed out that this FLM is not flight hardware, but only a working prototype. Between December of this year and February of next year, he said, TRW will resume testing the FLM, applying the lessons learned from this recently completed phase “to get it to sing, if you will.” Fabrication and testing of an updated laser module should begin next summer. — B. Rivers





Amplification
The news article on p. 25 in the September 1998 issue, “US Army to Field IEWCS, Update Requirements and Transition to Prophet,” should have clarified that the Army’s Operational Test and Evaluation Command has not yet produced their evaluation findings concerning the latest tests of the IEWCS, nor has the Army made a final decision to field the system.
In the same issue, the feature article on p. 25, “Air Force EW — Where Have All the Programs Gone?” should have stated that the prime contractor developing the PLAID system is Mercer Engineering Research Center.

In the same story, it should be noted that Col Charles Allan, commander, 68th Electronic Combat Group, is under the 53rd Wing.





PROGRAM MONITOR
Raytheon Systems Co. (El Segundo, CA) has received a $70 million contract from the Naval Air Systems Command (Patuxent River, MD) for 20 ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receivers. The work is expected to be completed in June 2001....ITT Avionics (Clifton, NJ) has been awarded a $17.8 million contract by the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM, Tampa, FL) to upgrade the RF countermeasures on the USSOCOM’s fleet of C-130s to the AN/ALQ-172(V)1 (ECP-93) version. The work, to be performed in Clifton, NJ, could be worth as much as $44.6 million if all options are exercised....GDE Systems Inc. (San Diego, CA) will receive $10 million from the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (Point Mugu, CA) for the mission planning, imagery exploitation processing and maintenance of operational readiness of the Tactical Automated Mission Planning System, version 6.2.1.The work, which will be performed in San Diego, CA, will be completed by September 2001....Northrop Grumman Corp. (Melbourne, FL) has been chosen to provide engineering drawings, production and installation of Group A hardware in support of the computer replacement program for one E-8C aircraft. Electronic Systems Center (Hanscom AFB, MA) will pay $5.8 million for the work, which will be completed by August 2001....L3 Communications (Alpharetta, GA) will receive $10.8 million for the manufacture of display panels for the manufacture of pilot and copilot display panels for the S-3B’s ASA-82 system. The contract was let by the Naval Inventory Control Point (Philadelphia, PA); work is expected to be finished by September 2001....The Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate (Wright-Patterson AFB, OH) has chosen Veridian Corp. (Alexandria, VA) for the Combat Identification Analysis program. By November 21, 2002, Veridian will provide a requirements assessment, operational analysis, technical analysis and ground and flight demonstrations....Veridian Veda Operations (Camarillo, CA) and Comptek Federal Systems (Arlington, VA) have been tapped by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (Point Mugu, CA) to provide technical engineering support services for electronic combat systems. The total value of the contracts is $55.2 million....Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems (St. Paul, MN) has been awarded a $6.9 million contract for work toward the introduction of specific emitter indentification into the Antisurface Warfare Improvement Program for P-3 aircraft. The contract was let by Naval Air Systems Command (Patuxent River, MD). Work will be performed in Eagan, MN, and Greenville, SC, and is expected to be completed by November, 1999.... Harris Corp., RF Communications Division (Rochester, NY) has received a $17.9 million contract for delivery, by April 2000, of high-frequency radio group broadband radio systems. The systems will be used as a backup to satellite communications and to communicate with NATO forces in ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications. The contract was awarded by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (San Diego, CA).



Copyright JED
 

в начало страницы | новое
 
Поиск
Настройки
Твиттер сайта
Статистика
Рейтинг@Mail.ru