The aerial targets program office of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s (AFLCMC) armaments directorate at Eglin AFB, Fla., wants survey responses by Jan. 10 from industry on companies’ ability to build a Next Generation Aerial Target (NGAT) having the electronic signatures of potential adversary fighters, such as the Russian Su-57 and the Chinese FC-31 and stealth J-20.
“Numerous and varied threats throughout the world drive the need for a Next Generation Aerial Target (NGAT) with an internally integrated Electronic Warfare (EW) suite to simulate modern adversary aircraft for test, training, and tactics development,” according to an AFLCMC airborne electronic attack/electronic warfare equipment request for information (RFI). “The intention of this RFI is to determine the existence of sources that have the capability to design, integrate, build, test and manufacture an affordable EW suite or subsystem components intended for the NGAT. The EW suite solution includes radio frequency (RF) emitters, electronic attack (EA) capabilities, and expendables (such as chaff and flares) capable of providing adequate fidelity presentations of advanced adversary aircraft (e.g., Su-57, J-20 and FC-31) for specific test scenarios.”
“Due to the radar cross-section requirements of the NGAT vehicle, internally carried EW solutions are required,” the business notice said. “The solution(s) will ideally account for the attritable nature of aerial targets; therefore, affordability is a key driver. A specific cost goal is not currently available. Additionally, due to the requirements of the test community, government user reprogrammability is a key attribute.”
The Air Force said last month that it is drafting a report to respond to lawmakers’ concern that 10 BAE Systems’ and L3Harris Technologies’ [LHX] EC-37B Compass Call aircraft–the Air Force’s “only dedicated electronic attack platform”–are “insufficient to meet Combatant Command contingency requirements in a contested electromagnetic spectrum environment” (Defense Daily, Nov. 8).
The Air Force report, due by March 1, is to lay out how the Air Force will meet Combatant Command EC-37B requirements.
Last month, Air Combat Command said that it has re-designated the EC-37B as the EA-37B “to better identify the platform’s mission of finding, attacking and destroying enemy land or sea targets.”
“One aircraft has been delivered to Air Force Materiel Command for development and operational testing,” ACC said. “Delivery of the first EA-37B in ACC to the 55th Electronic Combat Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., is expected in 2024. Additionally, the aircraft will assume the popular name ‘Compass Call’ in fiscal year 2026 or upon retirement of the EC-130H if earlier.”
Thus far, the service has retired 9 of its 14 Lockheed Martin [LMT] EC-130Hs.
The Air Force’s airborne electronic attack/electronic warfare equipment RFI said that “the representative suite for existing or future targets should be able to provide, within a single target presentation, remotely operated, attritable asset(s) with threat representative RF [radio frequency] emissions, EA [electronic attack] emissions, radar cross-section (RCS) signature, and internally carried expendables.”
“The government is interested in both EA/EW components/subsystems and end-to-end solutions,” according to the RFI. AFLCMC said that “EA solutions should be capable of replicating representative threat (J-20, Su-57, etc.) RF and EA emissions” and that desired technologies include Direct Digital Synthesis, Digital RF Memory, Open Systems Architecture, and transmit and receive antennas “that provide unique electronic warfare capabilities, with a bias toward low-cost and low-RCS signature solutions.”