A Raytheon Co. [RTN] unit received a U.S. Air Force contract for initial production of the GPS Advanced Digital Antenna Production system.
The ADAP system protects GPS-based navigation and precise timing systems from deliberate jamming and accidental interference.
The Air Force Global Positioning Systems Wing award to Raytheon Systems Limited (RSL), valued at $1.4 million, provides for 41 antenna electronics and 28 controlled reception pattern antenna to equip U.S. Navy surface platforms and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.
The ADAP system is a successor to the GAS-1 GPS antenna system that has been in continuous production at RSL since 1998. Current orders include more than 5,000 units for the U.S. government and foreign military sales customers. To date more than 4,500 GAS-1 units have been delivered to the U.S. government, achieving more than eight continuous years of 100 percent on-time delivery, according to Raytheon.
The ADAP system comprises the electronics unit manufactured at the RSL facilities in Harlow and Glenrothes, U.K., and the antenna is manufactured under subcontract by ITT Corp. (formerly EDO) on Long Island, New York. Compared to earlier analogue technology, ADAP provides significantly more GPS anti-jam protection against complex jamming scenarios and has been “ruggedized” and qualified for an extended mean time between failure.