Sener Aerospace and Defense has signed the first contract with Airbus Helicopters Spain to install IFF mode 5/S transponders in the helicopter fleets of Spanish armed forces. This is a navigation and communication identification system sending and receiving radiofrequency signals that are of special importance to flight safety.
The Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) IFF system is a radio link to identify land, sea or air military units that allows the controller, through a coded interrogation-answer procedure, to positively identify a unit as friend or enemy. The implementation of mode 5 was a mandatory NATO requirement in order to participate on Alliance’s forces and missions. Mode S is the new civilian standard mode that uses secondary radar to control the air traffic in the EU Single European Sky.
Based on the agreement reached, Airbus Helicopters España will act as prime contractor, leading the contract activities for the Spanish Air Force and Army; while Sener will act as a nominated subcontractor to carry out activities (engineering, prototype testing, airworthiness certification, and supply of technical documentation, equipment, and kits) both for the prototype and for the SH-60B series of aircraft, and potentially for the Spanish Navy’s AB-212 helicopters.
Both companies acknowledge the strategic nature of this new alliance and hope this first collaboration will be a success and set the benchmark for subsequent activities, in terms of the modernization and development of subsystems of common interest, both nationally and abroad.
