ITT is flexing its muscles after the recent acquisition of the EDO Corporation. This has turned the defence electronics arm of ITT into a $6.2 billion business with 20,000 employees and a double-digit growth rate.
Andrew Dunn, ITT’s director, international business development, electronic systems, says the company, which specialises in communication and sensing equipment, should really be called ‘Sensors R Us’. “We cover everything from DC to light and our equipment can be found on everything from space satellites to F-16s,” he says.
ITT recently celebrated the sale to Turkey of its ALQ-211(V)4 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS) for retrofit on the Lockheed Martin F-16 aircraft.
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This means that ITT now has its AIDEWS products flying with air forces in Turkey, Oman, Chile, Pakistan and Poland aboard the F-16, and in Norway on its NHIndustries’ NH-90 helicopter.
Its ALQ-211(V)2 suite of Integrated RF Countermeasures (SIRFC) is also now flying on the Boeing/Bell CV-22 Osprey Tiltrotor, with the ALQ-211(V)6 derivative aboard the Boeing Chinook MH-47. ITT also recently made the first international sale of its ALQ-214 Integrated Defensive Electronics Countermeasures system to Australia as part of the latter’s deal for 24 Boeing F/A-18E/F fighter aircraft.
The company is also hoping to leverage sales of its radar systems on the back of a $44.9 million contract to supply the Swedish Defense Material Administration (FMV) with an upgrade to its PS-870 radar systems.
The REMO 870 contract, signed on May 30, will upgrade the radars as part of a programme to modernise Sweden’s national air defences. The PS-870, known commercially as the LCR (Land-based Coastal Radar) is a coastal/gap-filler radar system that automatically detects and tracks both surface and airborne targets in cluttered environments.
The total contract could have a value greater than $58 million and the work is being performed at ITT Electronic Systems’ plant in Van Nuys, California. ITT says there is a big demand for these radar systems, not just for defence, but also to counter the threat of pirates, narcotic and people smugglers.
It is also seeing an increase in sales of its CREW (US Government) and Shortstop (International) electronic protection systems to jam radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These have proved very popular with so many hot spots around the world and the increasing use of IEDs, often with catastrophic results.
The US CREW 2.1 systems are mounted on Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armoured vehicles, and other military transport equipment, deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Source: Flight International
