RTX's Raytheon completes Delta Design Review for F/A-18E/F Advanced Electronic Warfare prototype

Raytheon, an RTX business, has successfully completed a Delta Design Review of its Advanced Electronic Warfare, or ADVEW, prototype for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. ADVEW is being developed to replace existing electronic warfare components on the aircraft to improve survivability and long-term sustainability.

Executed ahead of schedule, the review assessed the weapons replaceable assemblies, or WRAs, and how each part of the hardware system works together to meet required specifications. The review confirmed that the system can provide critical electronic attack and electronic support measures capabilities.

"This event is a significant milestone that demonstrates our multi-function approach of integrating electronic support and electronic attack to revolutionize modern electronic warfare systems," says Bryan Rosselli, president of Advanced Products & Solutions at Raytheon. "Our solution provides the needed capabilities to defeat the ever-evolving threats of the world's most dangerous adversaries now and well into the future."

Raytheon's integration of digital and model-based systems engineering tools in the development of ADVEW provides requirements traceability, streamlines system integration, and mitigates risk to enable rapid aircraft integration. The company's approach leverages common material base and manufacturing processes to efficiently scale, reduce cost, minimize supply chain disruption, and deliver ahead of schedule.

In December of last year, Raytheon was awarded a $80 million contract in a down select to prototype the system for the U.S. Navy. The successful completion of this Delta Design Review marks another milestone of ADVEW development and begins the next phase, which includes government laboratory testing to validate Open Mission Systems compliance and to demonstrate advanced system attributes.