HARLOW, U.K., 27 Feb. 2009. A subsidiary of Raytheon Company has received a U.S. Air Force contract for initial production of a GPS antenna called the GPS Advanced Digital Antenna Production system.

The ADAP system protects GPS navigation and precise timing systems from deliberate jamming and accidental interference.

The U.S. Air Force Global Positioning Systems Wing award to Raytheon Systems Limited (RSL), valued at $1.4 million, calls for the delivery of 41 GPS antenna electronics and 28 controlled reception pattern GPS antenna systems to equip U.S. Navy surface platforms and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.

The ADAP system is a successor to the GAS-1 GPS antenna system, in continuous production at RSL since 1998, says a company representative.

Current orders include more than 5,000 units for the U.S. government and foreign military sales customers. To date more than 4,500 GAS-1 units have been delivered to the U.S. government.

The ADAP system includes: the electronics unit manufactured at the RSL facilities in Harlow and Glenrothes, U.K., and the antenna, manufactured under subcontract by ITT Corp. (formerly EDO) on Long Island, N.Y.

ADAP provides GPS anti-jam protection against complex jamming scenarios and has been "ruggedized" and qualified for an extended mean time between failure.