BAE Systems to Provide Identification-Friend-or-Foe to U.S. Navy and Army

GREENLAWN, New York - BAE Systems will provide identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) digital transponders, upgrade kits, and spares to the U.S. Navy and Army under a $20 million contract. The IFF systems increase situational awareness and help to positively establish the identity of friendly forces, reducing the risk of fratricide, or “friendly fire.”

BAE Systems’ IFF technology identifies aircraft and ships as friendly forces through transponders that are installed on submarines, surface ships, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters. The transponders work by responding to interrogations from ground-based or airborne IFF interrogator systems.

“Through use of open-system architecture and field-programmable gate arrays, the transponders are designed to be serviced and upgraded solely through software modifications, reducing risks and costs associated with hardware modifications,” said Sal Costa, director of identification solutions for BAE Systems.

Under the Naval Air Systems Command contract modification, BAE Systems will deliver 46 AN/APX-118 common digital transponders and 381 AN/APX-123 transponders to the Army and Navy, along with 400 modification kits and spares.

Work will be performed in Greenlawn, New York, and is expected to be completed in December 2011. BAE Systems has delivered more than 4,500 common transponders to the Navy and Army since 1999.