BAE Systems has been awarded a $54 million contract by the U.S. Navy for developing Dual Band Decoy (DBD), an advanced radio frequency countermeasure to protect the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft of the Navy from enemy attacks. This award comes after winning a competitive process wherein Raytheon was eliminated based on competitive advantage concerns.
The Dual Band Decoy represents the extension of the AN/ALE-55 Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy that has been flying since 2010. The DBD will be made up of a towed unit connected to electronic warfare equipment inboard by way of a fiber-optic cable. This advanced system uses this decoy and is intended for deploying to divert radar-guided missiles away from an aircraft and to destroy hostile radar.
That’s important for a reason, said Don Davidson, director of the Advanced Compact Electronic Warfare Solutions product line at BAE Systems.”With Dual Band Decoy, we are building on the ALE-55’s years of mission success as a high-powered jamming system,” Davidson said. “Dual Band Decoy delivers broad capability that can be installed on a variety of aircraft and is upgradeable to address future threats.”
The Navy awarded the contract to BAE Systems after Raytheon filed several legal protests. Last year both firms received contracts to design and demonstrate a decoy system. Raytheon was then knocked out of the competition after it hired a retired Navy technical expert move deemed improper. GAO denied Raytheon’s protest, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled against the company in March.
The Dual Band Decoy is part of BAE Systems’ Intrepid Shield approach that builds a protective sphere around the platform in highly contested battlespaces. Using the complete electromagnetic spectrum, this approach detects, exploits, and knocks off advanced threats to allow aircraft to survive in a high-threat scenario with increased lethality.
It is to be first fitted in operational service on the Navy’s fleet of more than 500 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The system will be integrated with the Super Hornet’s onboard self-protection system, improving the aircraft’s ability to operate in contested airspace.
For decades, BAE Systems has been a leader in delivering electronic warfare capabilities to the U.S. military. To date, the company has manufactured more than 3,000 ALE-55 decoys for its customers worldwide and actively invests in RF countermeasures technologies. This contract work will be performed at the BAE Systems’ facility in Nashua, New Hampshire.
The Navy is taking significant steps in many areas to ensure the survivability of the Super Hornet fleet. The development of the Dual Band Decoy marked a critical leap in electronic warfare technology that will help counter emerging threats.