Identify-friend-or-foe (IFF) avionics transponders for Air Force F-16 Block 40 and 42 to be provided by BAE Systems
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 24 April 2013.Jet fighter avionics designers at the BAE Systems Electronics & Systems Integration segment in Greenlawn, N.Y., will provide 336 AN/APX-125 F-16 Mode 5 advanced identify friend-or-foe (AIFF) units under terms of a $34.3 million U.S. Air Force contract announced late last week.
The AN/APX-125 combined interrogator and transponder (CIT), which was adapted from the BAE Systems APX-113 IFF interrogator and transponder, is an IFF system developed for the Air Force F-16 single-engine jet fighter. For this contract Air Force officials will use the IFF system on the F-16 Block 40 and Block 42 aircraft.
The AN/APX-125 also is for the F-16 Block 15 A/B MLU, Block 20 A/B, Block 30/32, Block 40, Block 50/52 C/D, and Block 60 aircraft. The system also can be used on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and surveillance helicopters, aerostats, Mig-29 jet fighters, Japan’s F-2 fighter, and other international aircraft, BAE Systems officials say.
The AN/APX-125 CIT includes Mode S elementary and enhanced surveillance (ELS and EHS) and Mode 5. It features Mark XII or Mark XIIA identification system, including crypto computers, in one unit.
The unit is U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) AIMS-certified STANAG 4193-compliant, offers several antenna configurations with electronic or mechanical scan, runs with Ada software, and has a dual-redundant MIL-STD-1553 bus interface.
The AN/APX-125 offers beam-forming network capability, fuselage-mounted antenna elements, and a lower interrogator antenna. Its detection range is greater than 100 nautical miles, can detect targets at 60-degree horizontal and vertical sectors. The unit uses four antenna elements.
BAE Systems will do the work in Greenlawn, N.Y., and should be finished by May 2015. Awarding the contract are officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
For more information contact BAE Systems Electronics & Systems Integration online at www.baesystems.com.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.