BAE Systems has received a contract from Lockheed Martin to enhance the EW capabilities of the F-35.
Under the contract, BAE Systems says it will modernise its AN/ASQ-239 Electronic Warfare/Countermeasures (EW/CM) system.
“The F-35 will be in service for decades, and we’re committed to providing our pilots with an AN/ASQ-239 capability that affords a decisive and sustained EW operational advantage,” said Deborah Norton, VP of F-35 Solutions at BAE Systems.
“Our robust, modular architecture enables us to efficiently insert new capabilities, supporting the next wave of technical innovation while proactively addressing total product lifecycle sustainability.”
According to the firm in a release:
“The Block 4 program is a multi-year, multi-contract design and development effort that will add eleven new capabilities to the EW system. These improvements will be made as part of the new F-35 agile contracting and development paradigm called Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2). The C2D2 construct is one in which capabilities are continuously being developed and fielded in 6-12 month intervals, providing warfighters with incremental enhancements to keep pace with the evolving threats.
BAE Systems has delivered more than 500 F-35 AN/ASQ-239 EW/CM shipsets to date, and is currently matching aircraft production with continual on-time delivery as the program ramps to full-rate production. As part of its rigorous development process, the company invested in process automation, facility optimization, quality assurance, human capital, and supply chain excellence to deliver capabilities to the warfighter with speed and agility.”
BAE Systems has been the EW supplier for the F-35 for the past 14 years, designing and developing the Block 1, Block 2, and Block 3 configurations, and delivering production units for each of the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lots 1-11.
It would be interesting to see how this system compares with the developments being done to the Typhoon’s Praetorian system. Admittedly the F35 has better sensor fusion in that the APG81 radar, Electro Optic Targeting System (EOTS) and AN/ASQ-239 all are merged together to give the pilot the best situational awareness information. I’ll be very surprised if the Typhoon does not try to emulate the sensor fusion in future upgrades, its just missing a EOTS style system. I think a lot of the delay with install the Captor-E has been due to the capabilities of the APG81 fitted to the… Read more »