AN / ALQ-135

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The AN / ALQ-135 is an airborne system for electronic countermeasures at short to medium distances. It is used by the US Corporation Northrop Grumman produces.

description

The ALQ-135 was designed to equip the F-15E Strike Eagle with an internal radar jamming system as part of the TEWS ("Tactical Electronic Warfare System") project. It entered service in 1990 after some delays. Many F-15Cs have now been equipped with this system. In the course of time, numerous increases in performance were carried out, with a particular goal of constantly expanding the frequency range .

The ALQ-135 was originally designed to neutralize radar-controlled guided missiles and target lighting radars with short to medium range. By implementing interference capacities in lower-frequency areas, it is now also possible to interfere with search and fire control radars . As part of the TEWS project, the system is connected to the AN / ALR-56 - radar detector and the AN / ALE-45 - decoy launcher in order to be able to react autonomously and effectively to threats. In addition, the software can be reconfigured in the field so that the countermeasures can be adapted to the expected range of threats.

In total, the system was in action for more than 6,600 hours, including during the Kosovo war and Operation Southern Watch . No F-15 was lost in these missions.

Variant AN / ALQ-135M

The ALQ-135M represents a significant further development of the original ALQ-135 system. The use of modern components made it possible to remove the old traveling wave tubes , which means that the new system weighs 63% less and requires 71% less volume. In addition to extensive performance improvements, according to the manufacturer, reliability has been increased tenfold. PowerPC CPUs are also used for signal processing.

Platforms

Technical specifications

  • Weight: 150 kg
  • Volume: 0.15 m³
  • Frequency range: 2–20 GHz (including upgrades)

Web links