Lockheed Martin Selects Textron For Preflight Testing Of F-35 EW Systems

Textron Systems’ Model 527 Radar Signal Simulator has been selected by Lockheed Martin for preflight testing of the F-35 Lightning II electronic warfare (EW) systems.

Under a three-year term contract, Textron will provide advanced, handheld radar simulators for EW preflight testing on all variants of the F-35, which is expected to be utilized by both U.S. and international customers, company announced in its press release last week.

The Model 527 is designed for end-of-runway and walk-around preflight testing to determine the status of installed EW radar warning receiver systems.

Both operational readiness and threat recognition are verified across antennas, transmission lines, radomes, cockpit displays and controls.

Textron Systems’ advanced threat modeling software allows a variety of threat simulations including simple, continuous-wave, pulsed single emitters, and multiplexed radio frequency emitters modeling several threats simultaneously.

Once these have been developed within the system, personnel can progress through them easily on the flight line with a thumb switch to verify aircraft operation.

Senior Vice President and General Manager Steve Mensh said, “Our Model 527 and larger family of preflight testers give aircrews the confidence they need in their mission-critical systems, before they even leave the ground.”

Textron Systems’ Model 527 is compatible with threat file sharing, along with the company’s family of preflight confidence testers. This includes the Joint Service Electronic Combat Systems Tester (JSECST), which has an installed base of more than 500 systems in numerous countries around the world, and the Advanced Architecture Phase, Amplitude and Time Simulator (A2PATS) Laboratory Electromagnetic Environment Simulator.