Exelis has signed a contract with the US Navy to start the production of an electronic warfare system.
Under the $91m agreement, Exelis will start the full-rate production on Lot 11 of the ALQ-214 electronic self-protection system for the navy’s F/A-18C/D Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft.
This latest award brings the total value of contracts for the ALQ-214(V) 4/5 to more than $287m. The first, for full-rate production of IDECM, was issued in 2012.
Exelis integrated electronic warfare systems business area vice-president and general manager Joe Rambala said: "Today’s electronic warfare solutions must keep pace with increasingly sophisticated threats."
The Exelis ALQ-214(V) 4/5 jamming subsystem will help operations in competing environments to deal with anti-access and area-denial challenges.
The US Navy uses IDECM to defend its carrier-based F/A-18s and their aircrews from complicated radio frequency threats, including hostile radar and air defence systems.
Exelis IDECM programme director Ron Silbermann said that the selection of Exelis technology follows the continual improvement of the system’s design and capabilities.
"Airborne self-protection jammers like the ALQ-214 will allow [the] US and allied forces to maintain a strategic edge in contested environments," Silbermann said.
Being built at the Exelis Electronic Systems (ES) facility in Clifton, New Jersey, US, deliveries of the ALQ-214 will start in November 2016.
