Raytheon, Thales To Upgrade IFF Systems For UK MoD

The U.K. Ministry of Defence selected the Raytheon U.K., Thales U.K. team to conduct a one-year study into upgrading existing Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems to Mode 5, which will address NATO's requirement for a new standard of IFF across all platforms. 

The two companies are offering the Thales Bluegate products covering the majority of naval and land system Mode 5 Interrogator applications, as well as, Raytheon UK's IFF4810 Mode 5 upgrade solution for most air and naval Mode 5 transponder uses. Raytheon and Thales' IFF Mode 5 subsystems use a common US-sourced KIV-77 Mode 4/5 cryptographic computer, which is more secure, deception resistant and already in service with U.S. armed forces. 

The Raytheon Thales Team is uniquely positioned, being the IFF incumbents on more than 97% of the platforms involved in the Mode 5 upgrade. The low risk approach builds on prior Authority and company investment in SIFF and Mode 5 while benefiting from the lessons learnt during the successful delivery of the SIFF capability. 

"The Raytheon and Thales collaboration combines our technical knowledge, proven equipment and long collaborative experience with the MoD," said Richard Daniel, Raytheon U.K. chief executive. "We are set to provide the fastest and most cost efficient solution which will exploit our SIFF installed base and provide proven low risk upgrades to the UK legacy platforms." 

"By bringing together best-in-class capability and extensive knowledge of UK platforms from both companies, we will deliver a low risk and cost effective solution to this important U.K. program," said Victor Chavez, Thales U.K. CEO. "Our respective companies have already delivered Mode 5 IFF to a number of NATO forces and this programme gives us the opportunity to extend this critical upgrade to UK platforms to maintain their interoperability in future NATO coalition forces." 

Raytheon's established SIFF support infrastructure aided the fleet-wide introduction of Mode S upgrades in recent years, establishing a proven model for delivery of the Mode 5 upgrade.