Air Force orders secure IFF avionics from Raytheon to help safeguard U.S. military aircraft

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Mission-critical avionics experts at the Raytheon Co. will provide the U.S. Air Force with secure identification friend-or-foe (IFF) equipment under terms of a $42.8 million contract announced Friday.

Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Joint-Base San Antonio, Texas, are asking the Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems segment in Aberdeen, Md., to provide KIV-77 Mode 4/5 cryptographic applique production.

The KIV-77 Mode 4/5 crypto applique computers provide secure cryptographic capability for Air Force IFF gear to provide the warfighter with the latest technology in secure air, land, and surface combat-identification capability.

IFF equipment aboard military aircraft sends a secret transponder code to help air traffic controllers, military radar operators, and missile crews tell the difference between U.S. and allied aircraft and those of potentially hostile forces.

Without secure IFF capability, adversaries might be able to spoof sensors to evade surveillance and air-defense networks, or stage attack raids unmolested.

Related: Navy chooses IFF avionics from Telephonics for fleet of P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft

The Raytheon KIV-77 provides information assurance for MK XIIA IFF interrogators and transponders using Mode 4 and Mode 5. The company's latest KIV-77 equipment offer reduced size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP) over previous generations, with improved capabilities.

Raytheon appliqué solutions maintain crypto capability in a separate line-replaceable unit (LRU) electronics box that measures 3.5 by 4.25 by 1 inches, and weighs 16 ounces.

Users can remove and store the crypto box as security procedures dictate without disturbing the integrity of the host interrogator or transponder, Raytheon officials say.

The KIV-77 is Type 1 certified by the National Security Agency and provides information assurance for legacy Mode 4 and new Mode 5 IFF equipment. Mode 5 IFF is the next-generation encrypted data link between interrogators and transponders to confirm an aircraft is friendly.

On this contract Raytheon will do the work in Largo, Fla., and should be finished by June 2022. For more information contact Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or the air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.wpafb.af.mil/aflcmc.

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