News Review: RAAF fit BOL IR on Hornet, ALE-55 enters full production | ADM November 2011

Pennsylvania firm Alloy Surfaces Company, Inc., a subsidiary of the UK’s Chemring Group PLC, has won a US$6.9 million RAAF contract to supply BOL IR and MJU-50/B Special Material Decoys (SMD) for the F/A-18A/B Hornet. This is Australia’s first large production order of BOL IR countermeasures to support the RAAF’s Hornet fleet and the first time BOL IR has been fielded on any F-18 platform. ASC is an industry leader in the design, development and production of Covert Multi-Spectral Special Material Decoys which are covert by day and night. Its IR decoys are currently being used to protect a wide variety of US and allied military aircraft in combat, the company says.

Chemring is a global leader in the manufacture of defensive countermeasures with more than 4,000 employees and 21 facilities in 8 countries, including a recently expanded counter-measures manufacturing facility near Melbourne.

Meanwhile, after two years of Low-Rate Initial Production, BAE Systems has received a US$36.7 million Full Rate Production (FRP) contract for the ALE-55 Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures subsystem from US Naval Air Systems Command.

The ALE-55 system will equip F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, including those of the RAAF. It consists of an onboard electronic frequency converter (EFC) and a fibre-optic towed decoy (FOTD).

Subject: Air