Boeing upgrade to transform US Air Force AWACS fleet

Seattle: The Boeing Company has announced that it has received a $44 million Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract for the Block 40/45 upgrade of the US Air Force Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) fleet. The contract marks the official beginning of the Block 40/45 production phase.

Boeing will provide shipset hardware, spare parts, ground systems installation, and delivery and logistic support for the first aircraft to undergo the upgrade. Installation is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2011. The remaining five LRIP aircraft will be covered in a follow-on contract.

"Block 40/45 brings the AWACS mission system into the 21st century and enables rapid future upgrades, allowing the AWACS fleet to remain a key asset in air battle management for many years to come," said Paula Pielak, Boeing AWACS 40/45 and Advanced Projects programme manager. "We look forward to putting this tremendous capability into production and delivering it to the warfighter."

The Block 40/45 upgrade, which is the largest in the history of the AWACS programme, dramatically enhances the system's potential for using network-enabled operations and increases AWACS mission execution capability, effectiveness and reliability while lowering life-cycle costs through a number of improved features, including:

• the primary AWACS display, which increases situational awareness through its intuitive mission displays and detailed map database
• higher processing power, which enables better operation of the fleet's advanced battle management tools, such as Automatic Air Tasking Orders and Airspace Coordination Order updates
• the capability to determine the most effective airborne weapon to pair against an identified target
• the Multi-Source Integration process (MSI), which automatically integrates data from on-and off-board sources, such as radar and Identification Friend or Foe, Electronic Support Measures and Link 16. The open system and lean architecture of the MSI enables rapid software upgrades and requires less hardware.

Boeing met all key performance parameters for the upgraded Block 40/45 system during a flight test acceptance programme, proving the system's reliability and stability. The programme was completed in July 2008.