Electronic warfare transmitters from Cobham chosen for radar jammers aboard Navy EA-18G jets
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 13 March 2015. U.S. Navy electronic warfare (EW) experts are looking to Cobham plc to provide RF transmitters for electronic jammers aboard the Navy EA-18G jet aircraft that are designed to spoof and blind enemy low-frequency radar systems.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced their intention Wednesday to award a contract to the Cobham plc Advanced Electronic Solutions segment in Lansdale, Pa., to provide low-band transmitters (LBT) for the AN/ALQ-99 jammers on the EA-18G aircraft.
The upcoming contract involves the AN/ALQ-99 Low-Band Consolidation (LBC) system now in production. The value of the contract has yet to be determined.
As part of the EA-18G Growler jet's electronic warfare suite, the LBT will provide the capability to jam hostile, low-frequency radar and communications signals in a tactical environment, Navy officials say.
The proposed low-band transmitter contract will call for Cobham engineers to carry out an engineering change to modify the existing LBT system and will include the design, manufacture, integration, and test of the LBC kit.
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The effort also will ask Cobham to deliver two test articles to support future qualification and testing of the modified transmitter, as well as applicable technical data.
Navy officials say they plan to award the upcoming 18-month contract to Cobham sole-source because the company is the only responsible source able to provide the jammers, and no other supplies or services will satisfy Navy requirements.
Cobham is the sole system designer, developer, integrator, and manufacturer of the LBT, and the company has unique expertise in the design, engineering, and performance details of the LBT necessary to design the LBC kit and to integrate the kit into the existing LBT transmitter and AN/ALQ-99 system, Navy officials say.
Low-frequency radar, for which the AN/ALQ-99 low band transmitter is designed to counter, is especially effective against stealthy aircraft and other targets with low radar cross sections.
This kind of radar, however, produces a relatively large amount of clutter, so requires advanced digital signal processing that removes unwanted signals to be effective against stealth targets.
The Navy's EA-18G Grower, built by the Boeing Co., is a carrier-based combat jet designed for electronic jamming, electronic countermeasures, and other kinds of electronic warfare missions. It has replaced the EA-6B Prowler on Navy aircraft carriers.
Companies interested in subcontracting with Cobham on the AN/ALQ-99 low-band transmitter work should contact Rebecca Hettel at Cobham by phone at 215-996-2276, or by email at [email protected].
For additional information contact Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions 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.
