Lockheed Martin Corp. is preparing to supply U.S. Army combat helicopter designers with electronic warfare (EW) systems to enable the AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopter to detect and identify enemy radar threats.
Officials of the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, announced a $192.2 million contract with the Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems segment in New York for production, sustainment hardware and engineering for the Modernized-Radar Frequency Interferometer (MRFI).
The MRFI identifies intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) emitters, and assists the AH-64E pilot with detecting and engaging an enemy radar threat well before the aircraft becomes vulnerable.
According to Lockheed Martin, the system quickly detects, identifies and locates enemy radar, and then ranks such hostile radars in order of priority for subsequent ground attack.
The MRFI is part of the AH-64E's digital receiver-based AN/APR-48B system, which performs target acquisition and cueing for the helicopter's fire-control radar system.
It also can deliver warning of radar directed antiaircraft threats and serve as the controller for integrated aircraft survivability equipment. The system also offers high sensitivity and precision angle of attack in a lightweight, modular configuration.
The AN/APR-48B system primarily operates on a dual-redundant MIL-STD-1553B databus. Other commercial I/O interfaces available for future growth include Gigabit Ethernet, RS-232 and RS-422.
