Textron Systems Electronic Systems has secured a four-year $43.6m indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the US Air Force (USAF) to offer the AN/USM-670A joint service electronic combat systems tester (JSECST) service life extension programme.
Under the contract, the company will upgrade most of the 500 JSECST systems currently fielded with the USAF, Army, Navy and 22 foreign military sale customers.
The IDIQ contract offers these customers the option to purchase additional units as well.
Textron Systems senior vice-president and general manager Steve Mensh said: "The JSECST system has been a workhorse for the US Department of Defense and so many of our allies for years, delivering reliable, repeatable testing for mission-critical systems and giving aircrews the confidence they need to execute their missions.
"Our advanced-performance JSECST upgrade kits will give our customers decades of additional product life and performance enhancements, through a streamlined, low-risk service life extension programme. This approach creates exceptional value over time."
After six months of rigorous regression testing to verify its capabilities, the USAF, army and navy have selected the next-generation JSECST.
The JSECST upgrade kit will add 20 years of useful life and will also have the capability to test a range of new mission-critical aircraft systems for better performance.
Additionally, both the upgrade kit and core test set are fully backward compatible with the current JSECST components, test programmes and accessories for ease of use and affordability.