Raytheon [RTN], fresh off its victory over incumbent Boeing [BA] to win the Air Force’s $298 million Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) deal, is preparing for the execution of the production contract, according to a company executive.
Raytheon Vice President for Integrated Communication Systems Scott Whatmough told reporters Thursday the company has finished the design and manufacturing of the low-rate initial production (LRIP) configuration of the command post terminals (CPT). There are two LRIP periods, Whatmough said, followed by full rate production (FRP). The hardware to be delivered for the LRIP has been manufactured and is now in the qualification process, Whatmough said.
Raytheon has a production-representative set of hardware going into these tests, Whatmough said, because the company built its LRIP hardware in its factory. He said the folks building the FRP hardware have also built the engineering development model (EDM) tests.
The Air Force previously wanted advanced wideband terminals (AWT) as part of FAB-T, but shelved those for financial reasons. FAB-T is to provide nuclear-survivable terminals capable of using multiple waveforms and communicating with both legacy Milstar and next-generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites. The terminals will operate in E-4 and E-6 aircraft as well as fixed and transportable ground sites. Raytheon was awarded the FAB-T contract June 2.
Airborne testing will begin within the next month, Whatmough said, and Raytheon will deliver a terminal to be installed on test aircraft and a ground terminal to allow the two to communicate. Whatmough said the company will then perform the rest of environmental software qualification testing and, ultimately, full design verification test (DVT), which will demonstrate the system’s full capabilities.
“Into the testing period, (we’ve had) no issues so far and (we’re) feeling really confident we’re going to get through that without issue,” Whatmough said.
Whatmough said the Air Force is procuring 84 systems plus spares and support. He added LRIP quantities have not been solidified, but they’ll be a small number and will be based on timing and the Air Force’s need.
Whatmough wasn’t sure if the Air Force would compete the AWT portion of FAB-T if it decided to pursue it. He did said he believed, at some point, some or all of these platforms will require that capability. Whatever the service decides, Whatmough said he believes Raytheon is well-positioned to provide this capability. Whatmough was also unsure when a critical Milestone C decision would take place for FAB-T.
The Air Force originally awarded the FAB-T production contract to Boeing over Raytheon in 2002, but the service became concerned Boeing wouldn’t be able to deliver, so it re-opened the competition.