The seal of DSCA. (U.S. Department of Defense)
Ed note: Originally published on sister site Defense Daily, this story concerns the sale of electronic warfare systems for Boeing 777s to India. Read on for details about the systems and the contract.
The U.S. State Department approved a possible $190 million Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to India of two 777 Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) Self-Protection Suites (SPS) worth $190 million.
Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered certification of this FMS to Congress on Tuesday.
The potential SPS sale primarily covers AN/AAQ 24(V)N Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM), ALQ-211(V)8 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS), and AN/ALE-47 Counter-Measures Dispensing System (CMDS) to protect two Boeing-777 Head-of-State aircraft.
This includes 12 Guardian Laser Transmitter Assemblies AN/AAQ-24 (V)N (six installed and six spares), eight LAIRCM System Processor Replacements (LSPR) AN/AAQ-24 (V)N (two installed and 6 six spares), 23 Missile Warning Sensors (MWS) for AN/AAQ-24 (V)N (12 installed and 11 spares), five AN/ALE-47 Counter-Measures Dispensing System (CMDS) (two installed and three spares).
Other equipment in the sale contains Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suites (AIDEWS); LAIRCM CIURs, SCAs, HCCs, and UDM cards; initial spares; repair and return support, SPS engineering design, integration, hardware integration, flight test and certification; and other technical, logistics, and program support.
DSCA said the sale would improve India’s ability to deter regional threats and “facilitate a more robust capability into areas of increased missile threats.”
The prime contractor for the FMS is Boeing. While purchaser India typically requests offsets, any offset agreement will be defined later in negotiations between the contractor and purchaser.
Implementation of this sale will require the assignment of one more U.S. contractor representative to New Delhi, India.