"Raptor pilots will be flying the world's premier fifth-generation fighter equipped with the best digital electronic warfare system available in any fighter in the world," said Bridget Lauderdale, Lockheed Martin vice president for F-22 product development. "BAE Systems' digital EW program is a model product improvement program that provides state-of-the art technology to the F-22."

The digital EW system exploits breakthroughs in commercial analog-to-digital technology and field-programmable gate arrays. It replaces older analog receiver technology with reconfigurable digital receivers, providing cost, power, and weight savings for the F-22.

"This is the first production deployment of a wideband EW digital receiver on a tactical platform. The system has passed all performance and qualification testing to begin operational aircraft installation," said Bill Hill, BAE Systems' Digital EW program manager at Nashua, N.H.

"The digital receiver provides in excess of 500 megahertz of instantaneous measurement bandwidth and the same hardware can be reconfigured to perform wideband channelizer, tuned superheterodyne receiver, or compressive receiver functions."

The product improvement program began as a BAE Systems company-funded research and development effort to build a wideband, channelized digital receiver. The program will result in a 20 percent per-unit cost savings, yielding production cost reductions in excess of $80 million for F-22 production lots 5-9.

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