Lockheed Martin award BAE Systems a potential five-year, $100 million contract to provide sustainment support for electronic warfare (EW) platforms aboard the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. BAE will oversee the supply chain for the EW suite, manage regional warehouses with on-hand critical EW components to improve fill rates and reduce wait times, and establish metrics and infrastructure to ensure the readiness of EW systems in support of war fighters. This F-35 sustainability work is based on performance-based logistics (PBL), a cost-effective, outcome-based support strategy that focuses on system readiness.
The EW suite for the F-35, called the AN/ASQ-239 system, protects the aircraft with advanced technology for critical missions. Equipped with offensive and defensive electronic warfare (EW) options for the pilot and aircraft, the suite provides integrated radar warning, targeting support, and self-protection, to detect and defeat surface and airborne threats. The AN/ASQ-239 system’s avionics and sensors collect and process electromagnetic energy to capture a 360-degree aerial field view of the battle space, helping to maximize detection ranges and provide the pilot with options to evade, engage, counter, or jam threats. Always active, AN/ASQ-239 provides all-aspect, broadband protection, allowing the F-35 to reach well-defended targets and suppress enemy radars.
“As a leader in EW systems for the world’s most advanced aircraft, we understand how critical readiness is for our customers,” said Betsy Warren, director of F-35 Sustainment at BAE Systems, in a press release “We’ll ensure that the F-35 EW supply chain is in place for Lockheed Martin and the Department of Defense.”