Navy asks Northrop Grumman for electronic warfare (EW) avionics to help aircraft detect radar threats

PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – Military aviation experts at Northrop Grumman Corp. are providing new embedded computing and RF and microwave components to increase production capability of the U.S. Navy AN/APR-39 family of airborne electronic warfare (EW) radar warning receiver avionics.

Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $69.2 million order Thursday to the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems segment in Rolling Meadows, Ill., for a variety of electronic components for the AN/APR-39D(V)2 radar warning receiver.

The AN/APR-39 family of radar warning receivers is for several kinds Navy fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and naval vessels. It detects radar threats to aircraft, such as radar ground sites and particularly radar-guided missiles.

Navy avionics officials are ordering these new electronic components to increase production capacity to meet fielding requirements for the AN/APR-39D(V)2 for the U.S. Navy, Morocco, Czech Republic, Canada, Bahrain, Austria, Jordan, and Australia.

Components to be provided

For the AN/APR-39 radar warning receiver, Northrop Grumman will provide:

-- 42 D(V)2 processors for the Navy;
-- 170 D(V)2 antenna detectors -- 169 for the Navy and one for Morocco;
-- 119 D(V)2 radar receivers -- 117 for the Navy and two for Morocco;
-- 43 D(V)2 low band arrays -- 42 for the Navy and one for Morocco;
-- 34 D(V)2 battery handle assemblies for the Navy;
-- 102 C(V)2 conversion kits -- 80 for the Navy, 10 for the Czech Republic, four for Canada, three for Bahrain, two for Austria, two for Jordan, and one for Australia;
-- 12 quadrant receiver exciter circuit card assemblies for the Navy; and
-- 15 super mux circuit card assemblies for the Navy.

In mid-2012 the Navy asked Northrop Grumman to upgrade the Navy's AN/APR-39 family of radar warning receivers with new digital signal processing (DSP) capability based on 6U-form-factor circuit cards.

The APR-39 provides 360-degree coverage around the aircraft. When the system detects radar threats, it alerts the aircraft crew to each threat with a graphic symbol on the cockpit display.

Electronic warfare

The system provides the pilot and air crew with information on threat types, bearing, and the severity of the threat. The system also gives the aircrew synthetic speech audio threat warnings.

The APR-39 also functions as an EW management system, and serves as the heart of Northrop Grumman's suite of integrated sensors and countermeasures that integrates and displays data from onboard sensors radio frequency and electro-optical sensors.

On this order, Northrop Grumman will do the work in Rolling Meadows, Ill.; Woburn, Mass.; San Leandro, Calif.; Lansdale, Pa.; Longmont, Colo.; Lewisburg, Tenn.; Verona, Wis.; Newark, Del.; and locations, and should be finished by December 2028.

For more information contact Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems online at www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/an-apr-39-digital-radar-warning-receiver-family/m, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.