The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has awarded Terma Denmark a contract valued at $84 million for it to deliver new pylons for U.S. Air National Guard (ANG) Lockheed Martin F-16s, through a contract with the F-16 System Program Office (SPO). Deliveries will take place over a five-year period starting in late 2020.
Terma (Booth N93) said the contract comes as the danger of infrared seeker threats, such as manpads (man-portable air defense systems), increases, especially when operating from deployed bases.
The upgrade will include Pylon Integrated Dispensing System Universal (PIDSU) electronic warfare (EW) core pylons (with provisions for future missile warning system installation), as well as Flare-Up flare dispenser kits and test adapters. Originally designed for chaff dispensing, the Flare-Up flare dispenser modification kit was developed for PIDSU and comprises special magazines and a modified breech plate.
Once implemented, all the existing and new ANG Terma pylons will feature flare dispensers, and EW core pylons will have all the hardware for smart dispensing of, for example, expendable active decoys and multi-shot flares.
“This program will potentially pave the way for additional export contracts from other F-16 countries," said John Rygaard, Terma Aeronautics business development director. European F-16’s are already equipped with PIDS+.
In the U.S., the ANG PIDSU and EW core pylon configuration is the most advanced variant as both left- and right-hand pylons are equipped with three chaff/flare dispenser magazines, said Terma. This was made possible, added the company, “by introducing a new compact variant of the Terma Digital Sequencer Switch, which allows the installation of the additional dispenser magazine.”
Terma has been providing pylon-based solutions for improved self-protection since 1988 and has produced more than 1,000 new and modified/retrofitted pylons for F-16s with EW capabilities.