Development of the US Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system is back on track, but the internal electronic-warfare suite faces budget challenges.
The programme is under budget since being restructured last year after delays and cost overruns, says IDECM developer Lockheed Martin Sanders. The US Navy had to add 12 months to the schedule for the introduction of the IDECM as the self-protection jamming suite for the Boeing F/A18E/F Super Hornet.
Development of the IDECM, which consists of the ITT Avionics ALQ-214 onboard jammer and Sanders ALE-55 towed decoy, has reached a milestone, with flight tests of the full system in an F/A-18D testbed. Recent flights tested the system's capability against eight key threats. Sanders says the tests showed the suite's effectiveness.
The company says IDECM development is on schedule and under cost. The navy has opted for phased introduction of the system. F/A-18E/Fs will be deployed in early 2003 with the existing ALQ-165 airborne self-protection jammer and ALE-50 towed decoy, and will be upgraded first with the ALQ-214 and then the ALE-55, with the full IDECM to be available by the end of 2003.
Source: Flight International