Nichols Martin
BAE Systems‘ U.S. business arm has won a competition to help the U.S. Air Force’s Electronic Warfare and Avionics Program Office update 2,500 radios across multiple military transport, bomber and communications aircraft.
The company will develop and produce a new high-frequency radio for Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft under the Rapid Prototyping and Fielding Program, Robins Air Force Base said Tuesday.
Over the next five years, BAE will make and install 2,000 radios on aircraft including KC-135, KC-130J, C-130H, E6-B and B-52 units. USAF plans to award a follow-on contract for the remaining 500 radios.
Capt. Jeremy Fazely, program manager for airborne high frequency radio modernization at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, will spearhead a multidisciplinary team to develop and field the new radio at an accelerated pace.
“The AN/ARC-190 is still functional, but isn’t capable of meeting today’s warfighter’s needs and is no longer in production. If the AHFRM program didn’t exist, the field would start to see degraded operational impacts as early as 2024,” Fazely said.
