HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE: Engineers with the Electronic Systems Center here have achieved the next step in bringing an improved Identification Friend or Foe, or IFF, system capability to E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft.
Currently, AWACS provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, along with early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied and coalition operations.
“The next-generation IFF Mode 5 will allow for earlier detection of friendly targets and works to minimize fratricide,” said Tricia Hill, a Next Generation IFF program manager. “Interrogators provide identification of cooperative platforms, and Mode 5 improves upon that for the E-3 fleet.”
Mode 5 allows for dramatically improved detection of “maneuvering” targets at a maximum range, while improving detection of all targets at all ranges. It also increases the confidence in identification and data replies, Ms. Hill said.
Engineers recently held a combined development and operation test at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Numerous test flights were completed with AWACS Block 30/35 aircraft that included jamming, interrogation and interoperability works with F-15 Eagles.
“The capabilities leveraged from the Next Generation Identification Friend Foe system will dramatically increase our abilities to tell the good guys from the bad, and greatly reduce the chances of accidental fratricide, which will save lives in the future,” said Maj. David Drass, the 552nd Air Control Wing mission systems requirements chief.
According to Ms. Hill, feedback thus far has proved promising.
“The preliminary results have all been positive,” Ms. Hill said. “Everyone in the test community was satisfied. Although we don’t yet have full data analysis completed we are working on moving to Milestone C, a production decision, this spring.
U.S government and NATO engineers also were involved in the testing events to see firsthand the capabilities provided and how Mode 5 will transition to their AWACS platforms.
Another opportunity for evaluating the capability will come later this spring when the Navy performs a technical evaluation for all Mode 5 platforms that are ready to test.
“We’ll be a key player in this evaluation, with AWACS providing an airborne interrogator,” Ms. Hill said. “It will give us a chance to demonstrate interoperability between services.”
“We’ve been successful because of the teamwork we have,” Ms. Hill said. “Without support from the 552 ACW at Tinker (AFB, Okla.); the JTF/605 Test and Evaluation Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla.; the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center; the FAA, (the Naval Air Weapons Station-China Lake, Calif.); the F-15s out of Nellis AFB, (Nev.); and our NGIFF IPT team here, we couldn’t have gotten to this point.”
