Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems has been awarded a $471.6 million contract for a pylon-based infrared missile warning system for the U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft, according to a recent U.S. Department of Defense news release.
Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be complete by February 2030.
The contract, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, covers the production of a pylon-based Next Generation IR Passive Airborne Warning Systems, or PAWS, for the F-16 fighters0
The company’s website said the PAWS Family of systems is a combat-proven comprehensive solution for all airborne platforms – fixed and rotary, military and civilian, including tankers, VIPs and others. The airborne platform’s survivability is significantly enhanced by providing early warning regarding the presence of threatening missiles and by automatic management of all types of applicable countermeasures available onboard.
PAWS delivers cutting-edge protection against the most challenging modern and future threats faced in battle arenas. Using sophisticated signal processing and algorithms, the systems detect and track incoming missiles, identify threatening ones, alert the aircrew with audio-visual warning signals, initiate timely flare dispensing and precisely cue Directional IR Countermeasures (DIRCM) towards an approaching missile.
The PAWS systems operate either as a stand-alone, self-contained systems or as a part of a complete EW suite. The PAWS processing unit is provisioned to support expanded capabilities such as radar warning and laser warning. PAWS provides threat information to other EW and/or avionic systems for centralized display and management, as well as for enabling further threat handling.