F A-18 ELECTRONIC WARFARE SUITE COST AND OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY - PHASE-1 - RADIOFREQUENCY COUNTERMEASURES/

The cancellation of the Airborne Self-Protection Jammer Program create d a potential shortfall in the protection of the Navy's F/A-18 aircraf t from radiofrequency threat systems. To address this issue, the Naval Air Systems Command requested that the Applied Physics Laboratory per form a cost and operational effectiveness analysis (COEA) of electroni c warfare suite alternatives for the F/A-18. As a result of this analy sis, a new program was initiated to procure an improved electronic war fare suite for F/A-18 aircraft. This article summarizes the methodolog y used in Phase 1 of the COEA, in which radio-frequency countermeasure alternatives were examined, and presents unclassified examples to ill ustrate the nature of the results.