BAE Systems has received $179 million from the Army to provide the first two production lots of its Limited Interim Missile Warning System, the company said Wednesday.
The deal also covers initial fielding of its 2-Color Advanced Warning System (2CAWS) for LIMWS on select Army aircraft systems.
“Threats are evolving and proliferating at a rapid pace and our aircrews who fly into harm’s way need the most advanced protection systems available,” Chris Austin, BAE Systems’ director of threat detection solutions, said in a statement. “These orders follow an intensive two-year development and qualification program, made possible by a strong industry-government partnership focused on achieving an aggressive schedule.”
The Army awarded BAE Systems an initial $97.9 million contract for LIMWS in April 2018 to provide a Quick Reaction Capability next-generation missile warning system for aircraft to protect pilots and crews (Defense Daily, April 27 2018).
BAE Systems developed its 2CAWS system with Leonardo DRS, with the company providing the 2-color infrared sensor as the eyes of the system.
“Optimized for size, weight, and power, 2CAWS features an open system processor, two-color infrared sensors for increased range, and a fiber optic A-kit for faster data transmission,” BAE Systems wrote in a statement. “The system processor serves as the high-bandwidth digital backbone of the system and houses advanced machine learning missile warning algorithms specifically designed for complex, high-clutter environments and rapid threat updates.”