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IRST: B-2, ICU
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The F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet Block IIs are just beginning to enter service, with significantly improved AN/APG-79 AESA radars and other electronic upgrades. Recent years have seen another spreading improvement within global fighter fleets, however: Infa-Red Search & Track (IRST) systems that provide long range thermal imaging against air and ground targets. Most of these deployments have been on Russian (MiG-29 family, SU-30 family) and European (Eurofighter, Rafale) fighters, or special American exports (UAE’s F-16E/F Block 60s, F-15K/SG).

That absence puts American fighters behind an important curve. This IRST approach can defeat radar stealth in some instances, by focusing on engine exhaust or on the friction of the aircraft as it powers through the atmosphere. As F-14 pilots will recall, long range electro-optics also offer positive identification, conferring the ability to use a plane’s missiles to their full ranges, without creating friendly fire concerns. Best of all, IRST offers a passive way to locate and target enemy aircraft – one that won’t trigger radar warning receivers. When coupled with medium-range IR missiles like some Russian AA-10 variants, France’s MICA-IR, or even future versions of AMRAAM NCADE, an IRST system offers a fighter both an extra set of medium-range eyes, and a stealthy air-to-air combat weapon.

A program is beginning that would give American “teen series” fighters this capability, albeit in a somewhat unusual way…

• Tanks for the View: The IRST + Fuel Solution
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]

Tanks for the View: The IRST + Fuel Solution

F/A-18F w. tanks
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Retrofits into existing aircraft can be tricky, but in July 2007 Boeing managed an RFI selection process and tapped Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control division in Orlando, FL to supply up to 150 IRST systems for F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet Block II aircraft. The two firms already had a history of cooperation in this area. Boeing has already installed Lockheed Martin’s Tiger Eyes™ system in Korean F-15K and RSAF F-15SG Strike Eagles; it includes an IRST as part of its suite.

Instead of modifying the Super Hornet’s airframe’s structure or wiring, the partners will be taking an unusual route: modifying a 480 gallon centerline fuel tank to carry 330 gallons of fuel + the IRST system. This approach would also allow refits to existing Super Hornets, and indeed to all “teen series” fighters in the US arsenal, once software integration is performed for each aircraft type.

The drawback to this approach is that a centerline tank with IRST needs to stay on the airplane in combat, compromising its aerodynamic performance and radar signature.

The 3 industrial partners in this effort are Boeing IDS, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, and General Electric. First production deliveries of F/A-18 E/F IRST systems are expected in 2012, with initial operational capability expected in 2013.

Contracts and Key Events

F/A-18F w. IRST
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Nov 16/09: Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, MO receives a not-to-exceed $28 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order, against a previously issued Basic Ordering Agreement (N00019-05-G-0026), in order to incorporate a revised specification and statement of work for the Super Hornet’s IRST development effort.

Work will be performed in Orlando, FL (50%); St. Louis, MO (40%); Santa Ana, CA (5%); and Irvine, CA (5%), and is expected to be complete in September 2010. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.

May 18/09: Lockheed Martin announces a $4 million contract from Boeing for the technology development phase of the F/A-18E/F IRST program. The contract follows a 2-year pre-system design and development program, in which Lockheed Martin was down-selected as the sole source provider (see July 2/07 entry).

The corporate release adds that Lockheed Martin is the only U.S. company with an active IRST production line, and notes that the system “is readily adaptable to a wide range of installation options on various platforms.”

March 11/09: Boeing announces that its IRST tank system has successfully completed a series of 6 flight tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD, and 4 at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, CA. The system successfully demonstrated transfer alignment, long-range target detection, and the ability to operate in a fuel tank.

For the Super Hornet platform, they also tested the IRST’s integration into the plane’s “multisource integration algorithms.” That lets the Super Hornet’s systems correlate IRST tracking data with other sensors like its radar, radar warning receivers, etc., in order to produce a single picture of the battlespace around it. IRST systems need that kind of integration to be effective, and it’s work that will have to be done anew for each new aircraft type that is fitted with this system.

Dec 10/08: Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, MO received an $12 million cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-05-G-0026) for research and development services in support of the Technology Development phase of an IRST system for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (50%) and Orlando, FL (50%), and is expected to be complete in October 2009. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.

July 2/07: Boeing chooses Lockheed Martin, and the firms invest more than $10 million of their own money on a risk reduction demonstration, with U.S. Navy participation. They expect to receive a US Navy IRST development contract in the summer of 2008, with a total value of over $500 million through the development and production phases of the program. Boeing release.

Tag: IRSTpod, IRSTtank, f-18irst