PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. - Electronic warfare (EW) experts at Harris Corp. will provide the U.S. Navy and Australian air force with 86 sophisticated EW jamming systems designed to protect combat aircraft from incoming radar-guided missiles.
Harris Corp. is providing 86 sophisticated electronic warfare systems for U.S. Navy F/A-18 carrier-based jet fighter-bombers.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., have announced a $161 million order to the Harris Corp. Electronic Systems segment (formerly Exelis Inc.) in Clifton, N.J., to build 86 full-rate production lot 15 AN/ALQ-214A(V)4/5 integrated defensive electronic countermeasures jammer systems for the F/A-18C/D and F/A-18E/F Hornet and Super Hornet jet fighter-bombers.
The AN/ALQ-214A(V)4/5 is an electronic jammer component of the integrated defensive electronic counter measures system (IDECM) from a joint venture of Harris and BAE Systems. It protects F/A-18 fighter-bombers from radar-guided surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles by jamming the enemy missile guidance systems.
The ALQ-214 component of the IDECM EW system has been delivered to the U.S. Navy, as well as to the Royal Australian Air Force for contemporary versions of the Boeing F/A-18 fighter-bomber. The system blends sensitive receivers and active countermeasures to form an electronic shield around the aircraft. The RF countermeasure system engages incoming missiles autonomously with a series of measures designed to protect the aircraft from detection.
The AN/ALQ-214A(V)4 is a smaller and lighter version of its predecessors, and has an open-architecture design that is ready for integration on several different kinds of aircraft.
The system is designed to counter radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles with electronic countermeasures (ECM) techniques that deny, disrupt, delay, and degrade the enemy missile launch and engagement sequence. The system identifies, ranks, and counters incoming missiles, and displays engagements to the flight crew for situational awareness.
On this contract, Harris will do the work in Clifton, N.J.; San Jose, San Diego, Rancho Cordova, and Mountain View, Calif.; and at other U.S. locations, and should be finished by May 2021.
For more information visit Harris Electronic Systems online at www.harris.com/es.
