an armored vehicle to enable
front-line troops to communicate securely with their command headquarters. When fitted
to an adapted, Panther armored
combat vehicle with self-erect-ing radio masts, the Hotspot
can provide secure connectivity over several miles. It can
maneuver alongside the British
Army’s medium strike brigade
for continuous secure communications on the move. Under
a contract worth $1.62 million,
BAE will supply two experimental Strike Tactical Hotspots to the
British Army.
Navy electronic warfare
helicopters to help defend
ships from missile attack
The U.S. Navy and Lockheed
Martin Corp. have wrapped up
a preliminary design review of a
helicopter-based electronic warfare (EW) pod designed to help
ship crews detect and respond
to anti-ship missile threats.
Lockheed Martin officials say
their company’s Advanced OffBoard Electronic Warfare (AOEW)
Active Mission Payload AN/ALQ-
248 system aboard MH-60 helicopters provides the aircraft with
surveillance and EW capabilities against anti-ship threats with
radio-frequency countermeasures. AOEW can function independently or work with the ship’s
SEWIP Block 2 AN/SLQ- 32(V) 6
electronic surveillance sensor to
detect and assess the trajectory
of incoming missile threats. Í
Orbital ATK to
upgrade 230 AARGM
anti-radar missiles
BY John Keller
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. — U.S. Navy
air warfare experts are upgrading 230 air-to-ground, radar-killing
AGM-88B High Speed Anti-Radiation
Missile (HARM) systems to the AGM-
88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided
Missile (AARGM) to equip the service’s carrier-based fighter-bombers
and electronic warfare jets.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems
Command at Patuxent River Naval
Air Station, Md., announced a $156.8
million contract to the Orbital ATK
Defense Electronic Systems segment in Northridge, Calif., to convert AGM-88B HARM munitions into
230 AGM-88E AARGM all-up-rounds.
The contract, which involves lot 6
of AARGM production, includes six
captive air training missiles, supplies, services, spare parts, and fleet
deployment.
The newest version of the AGM-
88 missile is compatible with U.S.
and allied strike aircraft, including
the F/A- 18 fighter bomber, EA-18G
electronic warfare jet, Tornado, F- 16,
and F- 35. The missile program is a
joint venture by the U.S. Department
of Defense (DOD) and the Italian
Ministry of Defense. The AGM-88E
provides the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine
Corps, and Italian air force with the
ability to engage and destroy enemy air defenses and time-critical
mobile targets.
The AARGM boasts an advanced,
digital, anti-radiation homing sen-
sor, millimeter-wave radar terminal
seeker, global positioning system/
inertial navigation system guidance,
net-centric connectivity, and weap-
on-impact-assessment transmit.
The new missile offers improved
capabilities over the HARM systems
it replaces, including advanced sig-
nal processing, improved frequen-
cy coverage, detection range, and
field of view; time-critical, standoff
strike; missile-impact zone control
to prevent collateral damage; count-
er-emitter shutdown through active
millimeter-wave radar terminal guid-
ance; and bomb damage assessment.
The AARGM features new soft-
ware and enhanced capabilities to
counter radar shutdown and passive
radar using an additional active mil-
limeter-wave seeker. Previous ver-
sions of the missile could be spoofed
by turning off radar before the
weapon could lock on to their sig-
nals. The missile has been in full
production since 2012.
The missile will be integrated
onto the F/A-18C/D, F/A-18E/F, EA-18G,
and Tornado ECR aircraft and later on the F- 35. On this contract, ATK
will do the work in Northridge, Calif.,
and Ridgecrest, Calif., and should be
finished by March 2019. Í
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Orbital
ATK Defense Electronic Systems
online at
www.orbitalatk.com/defense-systems/defense-electronic-systems.
The AGM-88E AARGM missile is designed to
suppress enemy air defenses by homing-in on
and killing hostile radar installations.
