Navy asks AAI to upgrade electronic warfare test systems for F/A-18 jet fighter-bomber
RIDGECREST, Calif., 1 March 2013. U.S. Navy Avionics test experts are asking AAI Corp. in Hunt Valley, Md., to upgrade the Electronic Warfare Systems Integration Test Environment (EW SITE) for all variants of the Navy's F/A-18 Hornet carrier-based jet fighter-bomber.
The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station in Ridgecrest, Calif., announced plans to award a sole-source contract to AAI to procure one F/A-18 EW SITE test & measurement system, as well as upgrade the Navy's existing EW SITE system by adding synthetic source instruments (SSIs).
The EW SITE system must be compatible with the Navy's existing system to enable sharing of hardware components between existing threat simulators and capitalize on Navy threat scenario software.
The EW SITE system supports the ability to validate performance and integration of the systems and capabilities of all variants of the F/A-18 aircraft.
The Navy plans to award a sole-source contract because AAI is the developer and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the current EW SITE system. The value of the upcoming contract has yet to be negotiated.
AAI manufactures the only model of RF synthesizer compatible with the Navy's Advanced Weapons Laboratory (AWL) Electronic Warfare Radio Frequency threat simulator. The RF synthesizer is proprietary to AAI, Navy officials say.
For more information contact AAI Corp. online at www.aaicorp.com, or the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division 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.
