PHILADELPHIA - Electronic warfare (EW) experts at Exelis Inc. in Clifton, N.J., will replace important components of the U.S. Navy Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) program, which helps defend military aircraft from radar-guided, anti-aircraft missiles.
Officials of the Weapon Systems Support branch of the Naval Supply Systems Command in Philadelphia announced a $7.6 million contract to Exelis to repair IDECM weapons replaceable assemblies. Harris Corp. in Melbourne, Fla., completed its acquisition of Exelis last May.
IDECM provides self-protection capability against surface-to-air and air-to-air, radar-guided threats as it detects, identifies, and manages electronic countermeasure response to radar-guided missiles.
IDECM uses a techniques generator and fiber-optic towed decoy to protect aircraft from missile radar. Its jamming system uses a combination of onboard transmitters and the fiber-optic towed decoy to deceive enemy radars and missile systems.
IDECM is a Navy-led joint program that includes the U.S. Air Force. The system integrates electronic self-protection systems on the host aircraft.
There are four IDECM block configurations: IB-1, AN/ALQ-165 and the AN/ALE-50 Towed Decoy; IB-2, AN/ALQ-214 and the AN/ALE-50 Towed Decoy; IB-3, AN/ALQ-214 and the AN/ALE-55 Fiber Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD); and IB-4, AN/ALQ-214 engineering change proposal.
IDECM Blocks 1-3 when integrated with the Navy's F/A-18E/F Hornet jet fighter-bomber provide incremental improvement in survivability against RF threats. IDECM Block 4 is an engineering change proposal to the ALQ-214(V)3 which will result in an ALQ-214 configuration suitable for use on the F/A-18C/D (replacing the ALQ-126B) and the F/A-18E/F (with either the ALE-55 or ALE-50 towed decoy).
On this contract, Exelis will do the work in Clifton, N.J., and should be finished by December 2017.
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Exelis online at www.exelisinc.com, or the Naval Supply Systems Command at www.navsup.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.
