Cobham nets NATO EW training contract

 

Cobham has announced that it has been awarded a contract by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to delivery “operational readiness” training to the alliance for a period of five years.

 

The company’s press release announcing the news stated that the contract will cover the provision of electronic warfare training and threat simulation to help prepare NATO members for current and future electronic threats that they may encounter on the battlefield. The document continued that training will be provided by using the firm’s Dassault Falcon-20 converted business jets. The company uses these aircraft to provide a range of training services to both NATO and the UK Ministry of Defence including air-to-air training and dedicated EW training.

 

Cobham is enhancing its EW training capabilities and in September 2017 announced that it had developed a new airborne Anti-Ship Missile (AShM) electronic warfare training system in service by 2021. The system takes the form of a pod which can be mounted onboard an airborne platform such as a business jet. It is designed to emit Radio Frequency (RF) energy, and thus mimic the radar transmissions of an AShM. This will enable it to be used to train warship crews to take the correct action in case of AShM attack. Cobham sources told MONS that the AShM pod will emit RF in the eight gigahertz (GHz) to 20GHz range, encompassing the X-band, Ku-band and Ka-band radar frequencies which are commonly used for active radar homing AShMs. The firm adds that the pod employs a software defined approach enabling it to be upgraded throughout its service life to take new RF threats and tactics into account as and when they are determined.