30 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Andrew Eversden
The Army has moved the Lockheed Martin-made electronic warfare pod to the build and evaluation phase of the operational system, as it bolsters its electronic warfare capabilities.
The second phase agreement is worth nearly $75 million, according to the Consortium Management Group's Jan. 30 award listing, which made the award on behalf of the Army.
Lockheed Martin's electronic warfare pod, known as the “Air Large” piece of the Army's Multi-Function Electronic Warfare family of systems program, is mounted on an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone. It provides commanders with jamming capabilities as well as electronic support, or sensing of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The defense contractor developed a prototype as part of the first phase of the project it won in January 2019 under an $18 million contact.
“Our internal research & development programs have resulted in first-of-its-kind converged technologies that are at the forefront of realizing our customers' urgent need and vision for combined cyber and electronic warfare (EW) capability and dominance,” Deon Viergutz, vice president of Lockheed's Spectrum Convergence division, said in a statement.
The company has been testing the pod as part of the Army's Cyber Blitz exercise. Army officials plan to have the capability deployed to combat aviation brigades in 2022.
The pods are expected to play a critical role on the battlefield with near-peer adversaries, such as Russia and China.
“The air pod solutions are very important, especially when you start going against a near-peer competitor. The main reason why is because you start now dealing with more of an [electronic intelligence] ELINT threat than with a strictly commercial threat,” Col. Kevin Finch, program manager for electronic warfare and cyber within Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, told C4ISRNET in October last year.
29 juin 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Leaders of the House’s Blue Dog Coalition say they oppose calls to fund any less than the requested $753 billion national defense budget.
15 mai 2023 | International, Aérospatial
French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with France's TF1 television on Monday that France is open to training Ukrainian fighter jet pilots in France and that those training programmes could start right away.
19 février 2019 | International, Aérospatial
ARLINGTON, Va., February 18, 2019 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Navy have received U.S. Department of Defense approval to offer the EA-18G Growler to Finland. Previously only Australia had been authorized to purchase the airborne electronic attack (AEA) aircraft. Boeing and the Navy have offered the Growler and F/A-18 Super Hornet in a response to query issued by the Finnish Ministry of Defense as part of their HX fighter program procurement. “All strike fighter aircraft rely on Growler escort to increase survivability during high-threat missions,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing vice president, F/A-18 and EA-18G programs. “The combination of the Super Hornet Block III and Growler would provide Finland with superior technological capability particularly suited to Finland's HX mission requirements.” An F/A-18 variant, the Growler is the world's most advanced AEA platform and the only one in production today. It's capable of disrupting, deceiving or denying a broad range of military electronic systems including radar and communication systems. In addition to the U.S. Navy, the Growler is flown by the Royal Australian Air Force. https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2019-02-18-U-S-Government-Approves-Release-of-Boeing-EA-18G-Growler-to-Finland