Associated Aircraft Manufacturing and Sales (AAMSI) has secured a contract from the US Air Force (USAF) to service and repair the AN/APX-110 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Transponder system for the B-2 Spirit Bomber.
The contract, which has a base performance period of five years, is said to be AAMSI’s first prime contract with the USAF.
Licensed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman Corporation to design, manufacture and / or repair a number of legacy electronic systems across a wide variety of military platforms, AAMSI has full evaluation and repair capability for the KY-532, APX-64, APX-72, APX-76, APX-77, APX-100, APX-101, APX-109, APX-110, APX-121 and UPX-39. AAMSI also manufactures the APX-72, APX-77, APX-109, APX-101.
Additionally, AAMSI has been approved for manufacturing F-15, F/A-18 and other military aircraft landing gear and structural airframe parts.
In 2010, the company launched the next-generation AN/APX-121 MK XII IFF Diversity Transponder.
The B-2 Spirit bomber is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber designed to penetrate complex air-defence shields, attack heavily defended targets.
Powered by four General Electric F118-GE-100 non-afterburning turbofan engines, the B-2 Spirit can deploy conventional and nuclear weapons in the battle field.
In May, Northrop had successfully completed the critical design review (CDR) of a key weapons management software upgrade for the B-2 followed by the USAF’s decision to increase the operational availability of the bomber.
Image: A B-2 Spirit soars over the Pacific Ocean. Photo: courtesy of Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III.
