The US Army has contracted Raytheon to produce and supply 11 ACES electronic warfare systems and spares for the governments of Morocco, Egypt and Iraq under the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) programme.
According to the latest contract update information from the US Department of Defense (DoD), Raytheon was awarded the US$70 million contract for the development and supply of the Advanced Countermeasures Electronic System (ACES), an electronic warfare system used to jam hostile anti-aircraft missiles and anti-aircraft radar targeting systems.
“Raytheon Co…has been awarded a not-to-exceed $70,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for eight Advanced Countermeasures Electronic Systems (ACES) full systems for in country spares, three full systems to support software sustainment activities, 13 ACES Line Replaceable Units (LRU) to create a repair and return spares pool, and 21 ACES LRUs to support operation of ACES reprogramming benches at Warner Robins and Eglin Air Force Bases, plus a lifetime supply of diminishing manufacturing source parts to support future repair and return and production,” the DoD statement said.
The department said work is expected to be completed in March 2017.
The ACES systems will almost certainly be used on Egyptian, Moroccan and Iraqi F-16 fighter jets. The Royal Moroccan Air Force purchased 24 Block 52 F-16 Fighting Falcons from Lockheed Martin, fitted with ACES electronic warfare suites. Egypt ordered a batch of ACES systems for its F-16s and the system will most likely be used on the F-16s Iraq will soon receive.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defence recently issued another Africa-related contract, to Pacific Architects and Engineers Applied Technologies of Texas for the development, testing, and installation of the SureTrak Surveillance System for the governments of Djibouti, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe.
“The SureTrak System is a state-of-the-art, fully integrated, multi-sensor, data acquisition and display system used for airspace surveillance, waterway clearance, shoreline surveillance, and environmental monitoring functions,” the US Navy (which is the contracting authority) said. The system can integrate various sensors, including air and maritime surveillance radars, thermal and daylight cameras, and sensors to pick up the Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders carried by commercial vessels.
It was selected by the US Navy for the Regional Maritime Awareness Capability (RMAC), a US Army programme which seeks to help African countries develop naval capabilities to enable them to control their territorial waters.
