F-35 and F/A-18F flying at Farnborough Airshow with Harris technologies, Zoiss says

Intelligent Aerospace Chief Editor Courtney E. Howard interviewed Zoiss, who revealed the following insights about FIA 2016 and beyond.

Ed Zoiss, president of electronic systems at Harris, explains:

“FIA brings together industry leaders to showcase their top technologies, as well as provides an excellent opportunity to connect with key business partners. I look forward to the aviation showcases such as the F-35 and the F/A-18F Super Hornet, both of which include Harris technologies designed to enable the warfighter to accomplish the mission.

“Global electronic warfare (EW) has drastically evolved over the past several decades. Today’s technology has to keep up with these advances as a means to counter increasingly sophisticated global threats. At Farnborough we are excited to share our EW capabilities that deliver solutions to match strategic customer challenges. Harris is a leader and global provider of EW technologies that bring a legacy of strong results from deployments in multiple domains. For example, we provide jamming systems to the U.S. Navy for the IDECM program and work closely with the U.S. Air Force and Army aviation on a number of programs. Globally, we provide our international allies the ALQ-211 electronic countermeasures systems for the Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS).

“Our future is to continue to develop advanced technologies for customers whose missions are vital to the world’s safety and security. We employ thousands of engineers and scientists and have a commitment to research and development. We recognize the immediate need to equip manned and unmanned platforms – in the air, on the ground, and at sea – to address multiple threats in real time. Concentrating on these immediate needs, we continue to develop products that work, get deployed and missions that succeed. Our promise is simple: to connect, inform. and protect.

“Harris is focused on the future and developing advanced technologies for customers whose missions are vital to the world’s safety and security. As our adversaries continue to find loopholes to navigate the spectrum under the radar, we have to address these threats in real time.

“Effective electronic warfare will require three critical components to ensure safe and efficient operations:

Open architecture: While open architecture has been on the radar for more than a decade, industry challenges still remain as it relates to acquisition strategy, despite industry solutions that are readily available to support mission needs.

Software-defined: Major platforms are too costly to continuously upgrade. As such, they need access to systems that have the ability to navigate software intelligence for ongoing upgrades.

Cognitive: The nature of today’s electronic warfare landscape requires technology with rapid response capabilities that can uncover cognitive insights about the environment in which it is operating in order to adapt to future threats in near-real time.

“Warfighters need responsive, smart technologies that can work against these threats, regardless of domain or platform, and we are here to partner to become part of the solution.”

Search the Aerospace & Defense Buyer's Guide