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| Press Release Number: E200306301 | 30-Jun-03 |
ICAP III Enters LRIP, Awards Contract |
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| Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD - The latest technology in selective-reactive jamming capability is on its way to the fleet with the recent announcement of the EA-6B's Improved Capability III (ICAP III) weapons system contract award. The NAVAIR ICAP III program recently awarded a firm fixed price contract to the Northrop Grumman Corporation for ten operational Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) units. The contract award, value at approximately $91 million, follows the recent approval to proceed into LRIP by the Honorable John Young, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition). "ICAP III revolutionizes Electronic Attack in much the same way that precision guided munitions have revolutionized strike warfare", said NAVAIR EA-6B Program Manager Captain John Scheffler. "With ICAP III, the fleet has the ability to very specifically target and rapidly respond to changes in enemy electronic threats, thereby significantly enhancing the survivability and effectiveness of our striking forces." Scheffler went on to say, "As the heart of the EA-18G, which will begin to replace the Navy's EA-6Bs toward the end of the current decade, ICAP III provides a solid foundation for the future of Electronic Attack. The ICAP III system is also being evaluated for incorporation in other platforms as we seek to field common, interoperable systems that meet the needs of other agencies within the Department of Defense." Approval to enter into LRIP followed an Operational Assessment that recently scored the ICAP III as 'potentially operationally effective and potentially operationally suitable', the best possible grade. Current EA-6B Prowlers jam radar by transmitting electronic signals over broad frequency ranges to "blind" adversary radars. ICAP III takes that energy and focuses it on the specific frequency of threat radars and can change its own jamming frequency as fast as modern radars change theirs to avoid jamming. ICAP III uses a technique called long-baseline interferometry to locate threats so they can be targeted. "Technologically, ICAP III is a great achievement in software development and systems integration," said Northrop Grumman Program Manager Sam Abbate. "ICAP III will deliver two critical capabilities to the Navy: the ability to protect our fliers against tomorrow's surface-to-air missiles and the ability to identify and accurately locate those threats so they can be targeted and destroyed." Initial operational capability for the fleet is slated for 2005. Capt. Scheffler concluded, "The approval for the ICAP III system to enter low rate initial production is the culmination of over five years of incredibly painstaking and dedicated work by the ICAP III team of NAVAIR, Northrop Grumman, subcontractors and suppliers. Every member of the entire team should be incredibly proud of his or her contributions to bringing the system to this point in its service life. We look forward to introducing this impressive new capability into the fleet in about a year and a half." NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technology through the efforts of a seamless, integrated, worldwide network of aviation technology experts. From professional training to carrier launch; from sensor data to precision targeting; from aircraft and weapons development to successful deployment; from real-time communication to aircraft recovery NAVAIR provides dominant combat effects and matchless capabilities to the American warfighter. For more information about the EA-6B or the ICAP III program please contact Denise Deon Wilson, Public Affairs Officer for PEO-T at 301-481-6263 or deond@navair.navy.mil. # # # |
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