The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded BAE Systems an $11 million contract to develop next-generation electronic warfare (EW) technology that will quickly detect, locate, and identify sources of radio frequency signals. This technology is known as the Full-Spectrum Staring Receiver (FSSR) and will enable near-instantaneous battlespace situational awareness, emitter tracking, threat warning, and countermeasure cueing. The FSSR technology would be able to provide what conventional threat warning systems are not able to deliver – the high level of coverage and responsiveness.
With the FSSR capability, U.S. Navy ships will be constantly aware of threat emitters over a very broad span of the electromagnetic spectrum. This effort is part the ONR’s Electronic Warfare Discovery & Invention Program, which seeks to develop and demonstrate a broad range of next-generation EW systems that exploit, deceive, or deny enemy use of the electromagnetic spectrum while ensuring their unfettered use by friendly forces. As the prime contractor on FSSR, BAE Systems brings EW system domain expertise, threat characterization and identification processing, and system design and integration knowledge.
Other members of BAE Systems’ FSSR team include the S2 Corporation, University of Colorado Boulder, Montana State University, Purdue University, HRL Laboratories, and the Naval Research Laboratory.
