BAE Systems has announced it received a $3.3 million contract to transition a full-scale development model of a rapid deployment-capable to a production-ready station to test electronic attack pods used with F-15, F-16, and A-10 aircraft. The portable tester will check out ALQ-131 and ALQ-184 EA pods to enable “fast-turnaround repairs,” stated a company news release. The Air Force expects BAE to complete the FSD transition phase by 2008. In the next phase of the program, BAE would produce up to 100 testers.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
