Raytheon to provide secure IFF avionics to safeguard military aircraft

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. 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.