US Navy awards Raytheon $255 million for precision landing

System equips the F-35 and unmanned aircraft with safer, more accurate landing guidance

 
The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon Company a $255 million contract for development and production readiness of its next generation precision landing system. The Joint Precision Approach and Landing System uses GPS satellite navigation to provide more accurate landing guidance for manned and unmanned aircraft, replacing radar and beacons used in older systems.

This contract, announced by the Department of Defense on Sept. 21 and Raytheon on Oct. 19, includes options which, if exercised, would bring the value to $270 million.

Raytheon will complete development for an auto-land capability to be used by both manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as finalize the integration with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: the first aircraft to be equipped with JPALS technology.

A U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Pacific. (Photo: US Navy)

When operational in 2018, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will use JPALS on the F-35C carrier variant, F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant and the MQ-25A multi-mission unmanned vehicle.

“The JPALS solution revolutionizes landings for manned and unmanned military aircraft,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services business. “Aviators will be able to trust this technology to provide safe, secure, and reliable landing guidance, at any time of day, in all kinds of weather and environments.”

Developed in partnership with the U.S. Navy to provide pinpoint landing guidance on carriers in rough seas, JPALS is tailorable to a wide range of environments including contingency operations requiring rapid deployment, or land-based airfields with curved, segmented and specialized approaches, and can integrate and modernize landing systems on legacy aircraft for joint interoperability.

JPALS improves navigational alignment prior to approach, allowing aircraft to land on any aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship, day or night, even in adverse weather conditions. As the only military ground-based augmentation system in the world, the system features anti-jam protection to ensure mission continuity throughout a range of threat environments.