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lunes, 4 de febrero de 2019

Leonardo signs deal worth around €180M to upgrade NATO’s electronic warfare training equipment

- Leonardo will  deliver a range of  new equipment to NATO  JEWCS, the Alliance agency which  supports armed forces training to face  hostile electro-magnetic conditions

- Equipment will  cover air, land and  maritime domains and also  includes a capability for training  crews to defend against anti-ship missiles   

- Leonardo’s  range of contracts  in support of NATO signal  a leadership position in a number  of areas. This leadership position is driving  sustainable growth, as laid out in the Company’s 2018-2022  Industrial Plan

Rome,  4 February  2019 - Leonardo  has signed  a contract worth  approximately €180M  to provide new electronic  warfare training equipment for  the NATO Joint Electronic Warfare  Core Staff (JEWCS). Leonardo was selected  in an international competition and will incorporate  technology from partners Cobham and Elettronica. The contract  was placed by the UK Ministry of Defence as the host nation  for NATO JEWCS, which is based at the Royal Naval Air Station  (RNAS) in Yeovilton. Equipment will be delivered in tranches over the  next 4 years from Leonardo’s Electronic Warfare (EW) centre of excellence in  Luton, UK.

NATO  JEWCS is  the Alliance  agency responsible  for the high-tech world  of electronic warfare. When  NATO forces go on operations,  they can expect the enemy to try  and disrupt their radars, GPS and communications.  Therefore, to train realistically, it is important  that NATO Forces experience these effects and practice  how to counter them. Part of NATO JEWCS’s remit is to improve  armed forces training by simulating the effects of an enemy’s latest  electronic warfare equipment during exercises, creating a ‘hostile environment’  in which to train. To deliver the service, NATO JEWCS deploys high-tech EW equipment  at training sites around Europe, allowing armed forces to practice their skills in areas  such as electronic surveillance and electronic countermeasures while facing true-to-life attempts  to disrupt their activity.

In  delivering  this support,  it is important  that the EW effects  being simulated are state  of the art, keeping pace with  opposing forces’ latest tech developments.  Leonardo is Europe’s leading provider of electronic  warfare technology and training and will be providing  representative equipment across three domains: air, land and maritime.  In the air, highly capable and flexible podbased EW systems will be supplied  for deployment on aircraft, alongside a NATO Anti-Ship Missile Defence Evaluation  Facility (NASMDEF). NASMDEF comprises a set of pods that can be installed on aircraft  to simulate anti-ship missiles. They allow forces to train in the use of ‘soft-kill countermeasures’  which are used to protect ships from incoming threats. Cobham will be Leonardo’s principle sub-contractor  for these elements. For land and maritime applications, fully ruggedised shelters and vehicles will be provided,  equipped with modular and flexible EW simulators, stimulators and jamming equipment. Elettronica will act as Leonardo’s  principal subcontractor for these elements.

Leonardo’s  electronic warfare  expertise includes designing  and manufacturing protective and  ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Recconaisance)  equipment for UK and allied aircraft such as the Eurofighter  Typhoon and AW159 helicopters, delivering specialist EW training  at its Academy in Lincoln and investing in the development of the  latest generation of countermeasures such as the anti-IED ‘Guardian’ system  for troops on the ground and the ‘BriteCloud’ decoy for fighter jet pilots.

This  contract  to upgrade  electronic warfare  equipment is just the  latest example of Leonardo’s  ongoing provision of security technology  and expertise to NATO. Leonardo is the Alliance’s  cyber security mission partner, working with the NATO  Communications and Information Agency to protect more than  70,000 Alliance users around the world from cyber-attacks. The  Company has also provided a significant amount of equipment and support  for the NATO Air Command and Control System (ACCS). In October 2018, Leonardo  received the NATO Science and Technology Organization’s (STO) Scientific Achievement  Award for its contributions to the development of a promising new approach to modelling,  simulation and training. Leonardo has also provided over 50 air defence radars to multiple Alliance  member countries under the NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP) and has delivered its ‘Guardian’  counter-IED (improvised explosive device) systems to protect NATO vehicles operating in Afghanistan.