BAE wins US military contracts

BAE Systems has been awarded separate contracts totalling $61.1m (£37.4m) to supply situational awareness technology and missile-launching canisters to the US military.

Under a $20m contract, BAE Systems will provide identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) digital transponders, upgrade kits and spares to the US Navy and US Army.

The IFF systems are designed to increase situational awareness and help to positively establish the identity of friendly forces, reducing the risk of fratricide.

IFF technology identifies aircraft and ships as friendly forces through transponders that are installed on submarines, ships, aircraft and helicopters. The transponders work by responding to interrogations from ground-based or airborne IFF interrogator systems.

‘Through use of open-system architecture and field-programmable gate arrays, the transponders are designed to be serviced and upgraded solely through software modifications, reducing risks and costs associated with hardware modifications,’ said Sal Costa, director of identification solutions for BAE Systems.

Under the Naval Air Systems Command contract modification, BAE Systems will deliver 46 AN/APX-118 common digital transponders and 381 AN/APX-123 transponders to the army and navy, along with 400 modification kits and spares.

Work will be performed in Greenlawn, New York, and is expected to be completed in December 2011.

In a separate contract, the US Navy awarded BAE Systems $41.1m for the procurement of Mk 13 Mod 0 Canisters and Mk 25 Mod 0 Canisters.

The canisters provide storage, transport and launch capabilities for the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS).

The Mk 13 Canister is used to fire the Standard Missile-2, Block II and III while the Mk 25 Canister is used to fire the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM). The Mk 25 Canister can store and fire four ESSMs in a space normally occupied by one missile.

Work will be performed at the BAE Systems facility in Aberdeen, South Dakota and is expected to conclude in May 2011.