Avionics experts choose power supplies for F-15 combat aircraft radar warning receiver from Crane Keltec
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. – U.S. military power electronics experts needed low-voltage power supplies for the BAE Systems AN/ALR-56C radar warning receiver. They found their solution from Crane Aerospace & Electronics Power Solutions – Keltec segment in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
Officials of the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency Aviation-Warner Robins at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., announced a $9.3 million sole-source five-year contract to Crane Keltec on Monday to provide AN/ALR-56C radar warning receiver low voltage power supplies for the U.S. Air Force F-15 family of jet fighters and fighter-bombers.
The AN/ALR-56C radar warning receiver offers the ability to detect and identify modern threat radars in dense environments, and operates together with an RF jammer, countermeasures dispenser, and other avionics.
Crane Keltec makes two 28-volt DC low-voltage power supplies for avionics and electronic systems: the PSLB2225 10,000-Watt PSLB2225 and the PSLB0214. The PSLB2225 offers 10,000 Watts output, and input voltage of 270 volts DC. The PSLB0214 offers 15,000 Watts output and input voltage of 400 volts DC.
These switch-mode power supplies come with single or multiple outputs, and can withstand the severe aerospace and military environments. Products either are custom or semi-custom, offering options like unique shapes.
Crane Keltec also offers a family of power supplies that operate directly from prime power available from the host platform for next-generation solid-state radar, DC-regulated aircraft bus, shipboard chlorination, air conditioning and refrigeration systems, and pulsed laser systems.
These power suppliers are air- or conduction cooled, feature operating efficiencies to 85 percent, and have power densities of 40 Watts per cubic inch.
In addition to the AN/ALR-56C radar warning receiver, these low-voltage power supplies are for cockpit and in-cabin instruments; flight management computers; identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) interrogators; mission data loader recorders; secured communication terminals; electronic counter measure equipment; fuel quantity measurement systems; auto-throttle servo motors; display management computers; glare shields; weapon interface units; stick and throttle power systems; airborne internet access systems; ground-based weapon systems; fire- and turret-control systems; military vehicle displays; naval vessel command and utility systems; and high power DC-regulated aircraft buses.
The Crane Keltec PSLB2225 10-kilowatt DC-DC converter offers over-voltage and overcurrent output protection, built-in test functions, current signal that allows load sharing for as many as eight devices.
The Crane Keltec PSLB0214 15-kilowatt DC-DC converter offers the same features as the PSLB2225, yet is EMI compliant with the MIL-STD-461E conductive emissions standard.
On this contract Crane Keltec will do the work in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and should be finished by September 2024. For more information contact Crane Keltec online at www.craneae.com/Products/Power/Power.aspx, or the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation-Warner Robins at www.dla.mil/Distribution/Locations/WarnerRobins.
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.
