Air Force prepares to restart B-52 jammer programme

Good summary of B-52 CCJ program at http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/07/07/225111/air-force-prepares-to-restart-b-52-jammer-programme.html.  Excerpts follow:

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If the core component jammer (CCJ) wins approval from senior USAF leaders in the programme objective memorandum and then eventually gets congressional backing, a demonstration of the technology could take place by fiscal year 2012, says Col Bob Schwarze, the air force's chief of EW and cyber warfare requirements...

Stand-off jamming is aimed at the enemy's low-band, early-warning radars. It enables attack jets and other aircraft to enter that airspace undetected and take out surface-to-air missiles sites and other threats...

Theatre Air Campaign

If equipped with the stand-off jamming capability, the EB-52 would be integrated into a theatre air campaign along with other first-strike aircraft, such as the stealthy fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor. EW capability would enable the Stratofortress to launch kinetic strikes with cruise missiles or GPS-guided smart bombs while engaging in offensive airborne electronic attack...

Value and Merit

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The B-52 jammer upgrade is just one of many air force EW modernisation projects. Last year the USAF stood up a new management group to oversee all its aircraft EW upgrades while trying to streamline the upgrade process between different programme offices to keep costs down...

But apart from some "breadboards" at the Air Force Research Laboratory, most of the CCJ concept remains solely on paper and no components have been flown or tested on a range. Officials envisage the wing pod being about 12m (40ft) long and weighing 2,270kg (5,000lb), similar to external fuel tanks. "We are looking at the technical maturation of that type of capability," says Schwarze...

The service plans to continue its AEA-related development in 2009 and air force officials have requested just over $34 million in research and development for the CCJ effort. Congress has yet to approve the Pentagon's budget, however.

Among the efforts under way is the development of four separate "critical technologies" that will play a key role in giving the B-52 a stand-off jamming capability. These include low-band, high-power transmitting phased arrays, mid-band high-power transmitting phased arrays, advanced exciters and aircraft integration systems engineering.

Programme's Fate

After an expected FY2012 demonstration, air force leaders must then decide the programme's fate. A platform could be fielded as early as 2015 or 2016, says Schwarze...

In late May, Northrop said it had demonstrated - through an AFRL-funded study - that airborne electronic jammer aircraft were more effective and efficient when networked and enhanced by decision aids...

The study appears to validate the objectives of the 2005-cancelled Joint Unmanned Combat Air System programme, which was a joint air force and navy effort.

The 2005 Quadrennial Defence Review - a Pentagon requirements document updated every five years - directed the air force to terminate work on its portion of that programme and begin developing a new long-range bomber, which the service wants to field by 2018.

A final decision on whether the air force receives approval to allocate the funding in its internal spending plan is expected later this year. But funding levels and requirements could change when a new US president takes up office in January 2009.