Mercury computers to upgrade Swedish fighter

By John Rhea

CHELMSFORD, Mass. - Engineers will upgrade the Swedish air force SAAB Gripen multirole combat aircraft with advanced conduction-cooled digital signal processing computers from Mercury Computer systems in Chelmsford, Mass., under a licensing agreement Mercury officials signed with Ericsson Microwave Systems in Molndal, Sweden, the avionics supplier to the aircraft.

Designers will use the embedded RACE computers in Ericsson`s multi-mode pulse Doppler search and acquisition radar, running the same software as Mercury`s commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) line. The open-system architecture will enable engineers to install upgrades for the aircraft to fulfill its fighter, attack, and reconnaissance roles.

Ericsson designers will co-manufacture the Mercury computers in Sweden with technical support and prototyping from Mercury.