Airbus awarded German IFF modernisation contract
Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a follow-on contract by the German procurement authority to upgrade the German armed forces’ identification-friend-or-foe systems to the new NATO Mode 5 standard. The contract was announced on 2 December.
The new standard aims to improve the distinction of friendly and hostile forces to reduce the incidence of friendly fire attacks.
Airbus will upgrade the existing IFF interrogator and transponder equipment of the German military, including adapting the existing STR 2000 transponders onboard all flying platforms to the Mode 5 standard.
The adaption will also be applied to the Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) 2000 I interrogators in all land-based platforms.
IFF systems precisely identify ships and aircraft by automatically sending interrogation signals which are answered by transponders onboard the incoming aircraft or ship, enabling field commanders to quickly distinguish friendly from hostile forces. Unlike Mode 4 used, Mode 5 employs sophisticated encryption techniques to avoid hostile signal manipulation, thus ensuring that the identification process is absolutely reliable and secure.
Following a first contract awarded in 2013, the next phase of the modernisation programme covered by the current contract is scheduled to last until 2016.
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