Updated 11:37am Monday 10th April 2017
Australian developed technology is another step closer to being used in the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) being developed for the
F-35 Lightning II JSF aircraft, following the signing of a contract between the Federal Government and Norway's Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace.
The contract will enable Kongsberg, which is developing the JSM, to continue the integration and qualification of BAE Systems' passive radio frequency (RF) sensor into the system. The contract is a result of the agreement reached between the Norwegian and Australian Governments initialised during the visit by Norwegian State Secretary of Defence Øystein Bø to Australia in 2015.
BAE Systems will provide a low-cost, light weight and highly sensitive electronic support measure (ESM) receiver for incorporation on JSM which will feature an additional land attack and littoral attack capability as well as a two-way communications line for target adjustment and inflight termination.
In its work with Kongsberg, BAE Systems has delivered a pre-production passive RF sensor for the JSM program, which was used to perform fit checks, system integration and support flight-testing in a development-standard missile. According to BAE Systems, the combination of this RF sensor with Kongsberg's existing seeker provides a significant enhancement in operational capability.
In support of the contract, BAE Systems will supply its new passive RF sensors to Kongsberg for use in its qualification activities.
The technology was developed with the support of the Australian Government’s Priority Industry Capability Innovation Program (PICIP). Under the Defence funded program, BAE Systems Australia received a grant in 2013 to help commercialise the technology.
“This is a great example of niche technology being developed through government and industry collaboration that has the potential to provide long term sustainable exports for Australia,” BAE Systems Australia CEO Glynn Phillips said.
“There is no doubt about Australia’s ability to compete on the world stage delivering leading edge technology to the world.”
Eirik Lie president of Kongsberg Defence Systems said: “We are very pleased that Australia joins the development of JSM by funding the integration of the RF seeker and that we together can increase the JSM capabilities”.
For more on the JSM, see our April 2017 edition of ADM.