BAE Systems was awarded a five-year, $24.4 million contract from the U.K. Ministry of Defense under which it will support and service the AAR-57 Common Missile Warning System (CMWS), which integrates electronic warfare sensors to detect and defeat infrared-guided missiles. BAE Systems will manage all facets of the supply chain to guarantee availability of CMWS equipment spares to U.K. forces.
“This program will ensure that MoD rotary- and fixed-wing platforms have spare CMWS equipment available at their deployed operating bases every time they need it,” said Cindy Carpenter, director of Global Survivability and Support Solutions for BAE Systems. “We’ve promised to deliver the CMWS spares within an hour of any request to ensure our customer has 100 percent mission availability, and our global product support team is committed to no less.”
CMWS, a passive missile detection and warning system, consists of up to six electro-optic missile sensors, depending on aircraft type, and an electronic control unit (ECU). The sensors are installed around the aircraft to provide comprehensive coverage and constantly monitor for the signature of a missile. The ECU processes the sensor data and, if it detects an incoming missile, provides cues for countermeasures to defeat the threat missile. CMWS is fielded on more than 120 systems on U.K. rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, including the Chinook and Tornado.