Cobham to provide electronic warfare transmitter antennas for EA-6B and EA-18G aircraft
LANSDALE, Pa., 7 Jan. 2013. U.S. Navy combat aviation experts needed transmitter antennas for the Navy and Marine Corps EA-6B and EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft. They found their solution from the Cobham plc Sensor and Antenna Systems segment in Lansdale, Pa.
Officials of Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., have awarded Cobham Sensor and Antenna Systems a $31.7 million contract to manufacture the AN/ALQ-99 low band transmitter-antenna group for Navy and Marine Corps EA-6B and EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft.
The AN/ALQ-99 low band transmitter-antenna group from Cobham Defense Electronics, has been in production since 2005. The LBT is designed to protect strike aircraft, ships, and ground troops by disrupting enemy radar and communications.
The latest electronic warfare antennas for the ALQ-99 were developed by the BAE Systems Surveillance and Attack business unit, which BAE Systems sold to Cobham in 2007.
Older versions of the ALQ-99 low-band radar and communications jammer also were on earlier models of the EA-6B Prowler, as well as on the now-retired EF-111 Raven, an electronic warfare version of the old F-111 supersonic bomber.
The computer-controlled AN/ALQ-99 tactical jamming system intercepts and automatically processes radar signals to jam many different kinds of enemy radar systems high effective radiated power.
The antennas for the AN/ALQ-99 fit in mission-configured jammer pods aboard the host aircraft. A universal exciter in each onboard pod interfaces with the onboard system and is under aircraft crew control.
The contract involves the sixth full-rate production lot, and includes the first installment of two-part procurement for a foreign military sale (FMS) to undisclosed customers.
The Cobham low band transmitter complements other ALQ-99 work, as well as the Next Generation Jammer, the Next Generation Airborne Electronic Attack study, and the Navy's Integrated Topside (InTop) and Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP), Cobham officials say.
This award brings the total number of production orders to 314 of 337 required transmitters and, to date, 230 transmitters have been delivered.
For more information contact Cobham Sensor and Antenna Systems online at www.cobham.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
