PETER LA FRANCHI / ADELAIDE
"Smarter Crow" to replace interim system this year in support of fleet training
Raytheon Australia is fitting out a Learjet 35 business jet with an advanced stand-off electronic-warfare jamming suite that will enter operational service with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) later this year. The system will be used to support fleet training.
Provided as part of the RAN's Electronic Warfare Training System outsourcing programme, the new aircraft will replace an interim Learjet 35-based system that entered operational service in 2002. This featured a single EWsT Chameleon II digital radio frequency memory (DRFM)-based jammer, but was restricted to engaging only one target at a time.
Raytheon has dubbed the new aircraft the "Smarter Crow", which will carry an EWsT RSS8000P radar threat simulator linked to a Chameleon IIIB DRFM system supporting two independent RF channels and a noise jammer. This combination will allow simultaneous engagement of up to three targets. Other new techniques introduced with the aircraft include "PR prediction", a means of projecting false target returns into space ahead of the carriage aircraft, rather than behind.
Other mission equipment to be installed on the platform includes a Rockwell Collins USQ-113 dual- transceiver communications jammer integrated with an ARC-210 radio system, a Rockwell Collins USQ-146 Rubicon communications jammer, an Elisra AES-210 electronic support measures (ESM) suite and an ALE-43 chaff dispensing system.
The aircraft's nose will also be modified to support a four-horn electronic attack antenna array, with a new tail radome also installed to support a similar four-array configuration. Receive antennas for the communications electronic-attack and Chameleon systems will be located in the aircraft belly ahead of the wing root and along the top of the fuselage. The ESM system antennas will be attached to the aircraft's existing wingtip pods.
Raytheon Australia received a contract to meet the RAN's 10-year electronic-warfare training needs in December 2001. The company will also provide maintenance support for the Learjet 35 platform under the agreement, which also covers the provision of some training services to the Royal Australian Air Force and the Australian Army.
Source: Flight International
