THE UK MINISTRY of Defence has begun a preliminary investigation into the suitability of the ITT Advanced Threat Radar Jammer (ATRJ) for the British Army Air Corps' next-generation battlefield attack helicopter.
The radar jammer is now under development for use on US Army McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The device has been described as being a modular, combined threat-warner and jammer.
It can be used to generate a real-time situational-awareness display for the aircraft's pilot and can be packaged directly into a mission-avionics computer.
The US Army's Radar Deception and Jamming technical-demonstration programme, which is scheduled for introduction in the year 2000/1, is being used as an ATRJ risk-reduction tool.
Within this programme, a Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk testbed is being used at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to validate ATRJ type-sensor fusion software.
US "special-mission" Bell/Boeing V-22 Ospreys and the AH-64s being procured by the United Arab Emirates are other rotorcraft which could be fitted with the ATRJ.
Source: Flight International
