BAE Systems has secured a $4 million contract from the U.S. Navy to conduct a quick-turnaround demonstration of a new radio frequency countermeasure (RFCM) system for the P-8A Poseidon, the company reported on Tuesday.
“The ability to meet this unprecedented response time underscores our agility, focus on meeting customer needs, and our ultimate goal of protecting our warfighters,” said Don Davidson, director of the Advanced Compact Electronic Warfare Solutions product line at BAE Systems.
BAE Systems’ pod-mounted RFCM system has integrated leading-edge, lightweight, high-power capabilities that will deliver a self-protection capability to the U.S. Navy’s P-8A Poseidon. “A process that used to take 18 to 24 months has been scaled to five or six months, which is remarkable, as is deploying this new self-protection capability,” Davidson added.
The company has collaborated with small focus teams that developed an innovative approach to the design and fabrication of the system’s mechanical parts, which has enabled the system’s rapid response. The RFCM system consists of a small form factor jammer, a high-powered amplifier and the AN/ALE-55 Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD).
FOTD is an advanced RF self-protection jammer that combats against RF missile threats to protect any fixed-wing aircraft. AN/ALE-55 FOTD jams signals with a high-powered response from off-board the aircraft at the end of the towline. Missiles are guided safely away from the aircraft to the towed decoy.
Under the contract, BAE Systems will design, build, integrate and ship the RFCM system over approximately five months, followed by two months of flight testing on the P-8A Poseidon platform. Testing will begin early in 2021. Work on the contract will be performed at the company’s state-of-the-art facility in Nashua, New Hampshire.
About BAE Systems
BAE Systems, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, an international defense, aerospace and security company which delivers a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services.
