BAE Systems received a $4 million contract from the U.S. Navy to conduct a quick-turnaround demonstration of a new radio frequency countermeasure (RFCM) system for the P-8A Poseidon. The pod-mounted RFCM system is a leading-edge, lightweight, high-power system that will add a new self-protection capability to this next-generation U.S. Navy aircraft.
Don Davidson, director of the Advanced Compact Electronic Warfare Solutions product line at BAE Systems feels that the ability to meet this unprecedented response time underscores their agility, focus on meeting customer needs, and their ultimate goal of protecting the warfighters. He also mentioned that a process that used to take 18 to 24 months has been scaled down to five or six months, which is remarkable, as is deploying this new self-protection capability. The rapid response is the result of collaboration among small focus teams who developed an innovative approach to the design and fabrication of the system’s mechanical parts. As a result, BAE Systems will design, build, integrate, and ship the RFCM system in approximately five months, followed by two months of flight testing on the P-8A Poseidon platform. Testing will begin early in 2021.
The RFCM system consists of a small form factor jammer, a high-powered amplifier and the AN/ALE-55 Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD). Work on the contract will be performed at the company’s state-of-the-art facility in Nashua, New Hampshire.
