AWACS tests new identification system

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Stephen Fox
  • Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) --  Years of preparation paid off for the Airborne Warning and Control Systems Program Office during the test of a capability which will reduce the possibility of friendly-fire accidents.

The test, held recently at the Navy test range at Patuxent River, Md., examined a new AWACS Identification Friend or Foe, or IFF, demonstrator interrogator system. The interrogator transmitted a new waveform known as Mode 5. The Mode 5 Interrogator capability will provide significant additional identification performance over the current capability being used.

It will give warfighters new levels of security and performance, increase mission effectiveness and lower the possibility of misidentification of friendly assets, said Maj. Trent Thomas, Mode 5 test lead for the Air Force and chief of AWACS mission system requirements at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

"Full implementation of the Mode 5 system across the combat air forces will enhance AWACS wartime capability and AWACS support for the warfighter," Major Thomas said.

The identification capability has two key components: the interrogator and the transponder. A platform with the interrogator has the ability to send out a signal to every platform with the transponder.

The transponder units then send a signal back to the interrogator identifying it as a friendly asset. Only a platform with an interrogator unit can send out a signal to identify and locate friendly assets.

Three years ago, an idea was conceived to have AWACS participate in a Navy Mode 5 IFF flight test. The Navy is the lead service for the Mode 5 program and is currently scheduled to initially field Mode 5-capable transponders in 2007. The Air Force goal is to begin fielding Mode 5-capable AWACS interrogators by fiscal 2008. The AWACS IFF team is still working on funding the program.

"It has been said that acquisition is a tough job because we create something from nothing," said Capt. Meghann McNiff, AWACS IFF program manager. "Creating something from nothing without a budget is even more difficult."

To participate in the flight test, Captain McNiff's team acquired $2.1 million for the hardware, software, and technical support needed for the test which would be a proof of concept of the Mode 5 waveform and significantly reduce the risk for the upgrade to Mode 5, she said.

On Oct. 5, years of planning and hard work culminated in the first of three flight tests where an E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft was equipped with a Mode 5 IFF airborne interrogator.

"We had many objectives for the AWACS portion of the test," Captain McNiff said. "The system met all of the expectations of extended range, resolution, accuracy, and code performance. We were also able to use an extensive onboard data recorder to store data for post-flight data analysis."

Both the Navy and the Air Force deemed the flight testing to be successful, meeting all objectives, according to Captain McNiff. The team will complete several months of comprehensive data analyses that will reveal more performance details, she said.

Major Thomas said that he was pleased with early indications of Mode 5's superior performance over Mode 4, a system developed in the 1960s.

"The upgraded IFF will greatly benefit the Air Force," Major Thomas said. "Diminished target variation will reduce required operator track maintenance. Increased code reliability will ensure more accurate identification of friendly aircraft. Encrypted identification coding will reduce congestion in communication intensive environments. It's a much better system than Mode 4."

Although the team planned six flights in case of unexpected events, they accomplished all the objectives with only three flights, which significantly reduced the cost to the team, Major Thomas said.