By Raytheon on Tuesday, June 18th, 2013
Raytheon to enhance US Army air defenses, better identify targets
Raytheon under a freelance modification from the U.S. Army, is adding new capabilities to the Identification Friend or Foe interrogator to scale back Radio Frequency (RF) emissions and enhance target identification for the warfighter.
“We understood that the warfighter needed a better identification capability, so Raytheon is both increasing the aptitude of the interrogator system and reducing RF emissions,” said Glen Bassett, director of Advanced Communication and Countermeasures for Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business.
The addition of Mode S, awarded to Raytheon in September 2012, will allow the warfighter to question targets individually and has the facility to trace and identify targets passively instead of filling the airspace with RF.
The U.S. Army requires using Mode S interrogations to preserve the facility to differentiate the intent and identify civil targets that operate within the airspace to prevent fratricide. This alteration will reduce the impact of military operations on civil air traffic control within the National Airspace.
The new Mode S and passive receive capability may be initially integrated at the Air Traffic, Navigation, Integration, and Coordination System’s (ATNAVICS) host platform, and has applications for other air defense systems.
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