BAE Systems Wins Major F-35 Electronic Warfare Upgrade
Electronic warfare has emerged as the new focus of a larger, multiyear $10 billion makeover of the Lockheed Martin F-35.
Ending a yearlong negotiating process that involved discussions with potential alternative suppliers, Lockheed has selected BAE Systems to deliver a package of upgrades under the Block 4 program to the ASQ-239 electronic warfare/countermeasures subsystem, both companies announced on Aug. 21.
Block 4 could expand frequency band coverage, add cognitive capability
The award preserves the role of BAE’s facility in Nashua, New Hampshire, as the sole electronic warfare system supplier for the Air Force’s three most advanced combat aircraft: the F-35, the Lockheed Martin F-22 and the future Northrop Grumman B-21. BAE designed the original ASQ-239 for the F-35 and has delivered more than 500 shipsets to Lockheed over the last 14 years.
As the Block 4 upgrade contract came up for consideration, Lockheed considered reopening the electronic warfare system to competitive bidding.
In June 2018, Lockheed released requests for information to several companies. It was part of a larger competitive initiative for Block 4 that led to Lockheed awarding an upgraded version of the distributed aperture system to Raytheon, overruling the original supplier Northrop Grumman on jets delivered after the 14th lot of low-rate initial production in fiscal 2022.
BAE responded by announcing a plan this February to invest $100 million to upgrade its 80,000-ft.2 Nashua plant with state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and increase the staff there by 23%.
At the same time, BAE also announced the insertion of a critical new technology into the ASQ-239 to help pave the way for future Block 4 upgrades. In addition to a towed decoy, multiple apertures, and the dispensers and controller for radio-frequency and infrared countermeasures, the ASQ-239 also includes technique generators—called Rack 2A and Rack 2B—to counter electronic threats.
BAE has now inserted the DTIP system into the ASQ-239 to upgrade Racks 2A and 2B. The acronym DTIP is a combination of two other acronyms: DCRTG, for the Digital Channelized Receiver/Techniques Generator, and TIP, for the Tuner Insertion Program. The combination results in a centralized electronic warfare processor that is more powerful, yet smaller. As a result, the DTIP will allow Lockheed to commission BAE to deliver new capabilities under Block 4.
Details of Lockheed’s plans for the F-35 electronic warfare upgrade package are difficult to track down. Many other Block 4 capabilities, including the automated ground collision avoidance system, new weapons and external fuel tanks, are well known. But BAE Systems declined to provide any details about the Block 4 upgrades funded under the newly awarded contract.
The only clues available are contained in an April 2018 presentation by Vice Adm. Mat Winter, who was then the program executive officer for the F-35. He showed a chart with more than 50 planned Block 4 upgrades, including 10 proposed improvements for the ASQ-239.
The list included activating Band 5 receivers for the electronic support measures systems, as well as augmenting the F-35’s existing receivers in Bands 2, 3 and 4. Lockheed has previously said that the ASQ-239 included growth provisions in the existing apertures and aperture electronics to host a Band 5 radar warning capability. The upgrade would require incorporating a Band 5 switch in the new DTIP system.
Winter’s presentation also suggested Block 4 could introduce new software into the ASQ-239 that would enable a “cognitive” electronic warfare capability. Such technology generally refers to an improvement on technique generators based on digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) technology, which identify the chain of signals created by frequency-hopping emitters and develop a matching jamming signal based on stored information. By contrast, a cognitive system uses artificial intelligence algorithms, which learn the signals of advanced emitters that have not been previously recorded and develop a counter technique in real time.
The ASQ-239 also would be upgraded with more advanced chaff and flares, according to Winter’s presentation.
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