Sun, Feb 07, 2010
Primary AWACS Display, Other Computer Systems At The Core Of
The Upgrade
Boeing announced Wednesday that it has been awarded a $324
million Foreign Military Sales contract from the Electronics
Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA, to upgrade France's
fleet of four E-3F Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)
aircraft, as well as the fleet's ground system.
"This upgrade -- the largest ever for French AWACS -- will
provide the fleet with more actionable information and better
situational awareness," said Steve Swanz, French AWACS program
manager for Boeing. "New mission computers also will reduce the
mission operator's workload, allowing more time to be spent
managing the battlespace."
The French AWACS Mid-Life Upgrade is based on the U.S. AWACS
Block 40/45 system, which dramatically enhances the potential for
network-enabled operations; increases mission execution capability,
reliability and effectiveness; and reduces life-cycle costs.
The upgrade will include:
- A primary AWACS display, which increases situational awareness
through its intuitive interface and detailed map database
- Upgraded Identification Friend or Foe Interrogation, including
Mode S and Mode 5 capability
- An increase in the number of mission consoles aboard each
aircraft, from 10 to 14
- Modern mission computing processing, which enables improved
AWACS mission performance through the use of advanced battle
management tools such as Automatic Air Tasking Orders and Airspace
Coordination Order updates, resource and sensor management, and
automated decision aids
- Improved combat identification capabilities from integrated
sensor and off-board datalinks
- The Multi-Source Integration process, which automatically
integrates data from on- and off-board sources such as radar,
Electronic Support Measures and Link 16, to provide significantly
improved tracking capabilities
- Digital radio control and management through the new mission
computing subsystem
- An open system architecture that enables rapid software
upgrades and requires less hardware.
Air France Industries will begin installing the enhancements at
its Le Bourget Airport facility near Paris in 2012. The entire
fleet is scheduled to complete this upgrade in the third quarter of
2015.
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