Flight testing of airborne EW systems (RWR and ECM)

Jonas Grönberg. Technical program manager EW Gripen Saab Avitronics Järfälla

Abstract

Saab Avitronics develops EW systems for air, land and maritime applications. Airborne EW systems are developed for both fighter and surveillance aircraft. Avitronics has been involved in flight tests for verification and validation for both RWR and ECM applications. Flight tests have been conducted on Gripen and on several other platforms like Tornodo and Saab 2000 AEW&C as well as in various test aircraft like Tp86 Sabreliner.

This paper will describe the way that flight testing of airborne EW systems are planned, performed and evaluated. Typical system parameters e.g. RWR direction finding and positioning, interoperability between the a/c sensors and ECM performance will be described.

EW systems are designed for complex scenarios impossible to create in a flight test environment. Many tests therefore have to complement each other e.g. tests in lab simulators and flight tests using simulated or real emitters. A part of the presentation will describe the differences between these types of test methods.

The tools used for planning and evaluation play an essential role for the success of flight tests. The interaction of tools and the EW tactical loop will be discussed.