Navy chooses Mercury Defense Systems to complete military aircraft avionics and weapons test capability
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – Airborne radar and electronic warfare experts at Mercury Defense Systems in Cypress, Calif., are helping the U.S. Navy develop ground testing for advanced aircraft radars in high-density air-to-air and air-to-ground environments.
Officials of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $22.9 million three-year order to the Mercury Defense Systems (MDS) subsidiary of Mercury Systems Inc. on Friday to complete the Radar Air-to-Ground Environment (RAGE) at Patuxent River NAS.
The RAGE project seeks to develop ground test capability for evaluating advanced aircraft radars in high-density air-to-air and air-to-ground environments. Mercury will do the work in support of the Integrated Battlespace Simulation team of the Test Air Combat Environment Test and Evaluation Facility (ACETEF) at Patuxent River NAS.
The ACETEF is a combination of integrated facilities and capabilities that can stand-alone or work collaboratively to perform test and evaluation of installed military avionics and weapons systems.
ACETEF provides synthetic environment and ground test support for military aircraft. Its integrated assets, distributed capability, and the synthetic battlespace are powerful tools for all phases of system development, Navy officials say.
The teams that comprise ACETEF are the Electronic Combat Stimulation Branch; the Battlespace Modeling and Simulation Division; and Instrumentation. These laboratories provide signal generation, high-performance computing, and warfare environments.
Mercury Defense Systems is the only known company that can design, build, and test the Navy and Air Force RAGE System, Navy officials say. Mercury is the sole manufacturer of RAGE system and is the only known source able to fulfill the Navy’s requirements.
On this order Mercury will do the job in Cypress, Calif.; Patuxent River NAS, Md.; and Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and should be finished by July 2022.
For more information contact Mercury Defense Systems online at www.mrcy.com, or the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division-Patuxent River at https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/ndw/installations/nas_patuxent_river/om/tenant_commands/naval-air-warfare-center-aircraft-division.html.
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.
