ATK and teammate BAE Systems announced their industry team has been awarded a $109-million contract by the U.S. Navy for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) of the Joint and Allied Threat Awareness System (JATAS), a next-generation warning system designed to enhance aircraft survivability against man-portable air-defense systems, small-caliber weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

The JATAS enhances aircraft survivability by providing advanced missile warning capability; aircrew warning of laser-based weapon systems such as range finders, illuminators, and beam riders; and hostile fire indication (HFI) for small arms, rockets, and other unguided threats. It will interface with the existing AN/ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispensing System.

The JATAS features an open architecture design, which enables easy upgrades in the future with other self-protection functions.

"The ATK - BAE Systems industry team brings tremendous engineering and operations expertise that is focused on making JATAS a success," said Mike Kahn, President of ATK Missile Products Group. "Our collective experience in the design, development and production of combat-proven aircraft survivability equipment brings together the very best capabilities of our industry to successfully execute and deliver JATAS for our customer."

"Our team is excited to be selected for the JATAS program, and we look forward to partnering closely with the U.S. Navy to develop an affordable and highly effective, next-generation aircraft survivability system," said Bill Kasting, Vice President and General Manager of ATK Defense Electronics Systems. "Our combined team will draw upon many years of proven experience in developing innovative systems to protect military aircraft and aircrew lives."

The ATK and BAE Systems team was one of two industry teams competing under a Technology Demonstration (TD) phase, awarded in October 2009. As the manufacturers of the current AAR-47 and AAR-57 missile warning systems, respectively, ATK and BAE Systems bring experience with installations on more than 5,000 fixed and rotor winged aircraft -- including the MV-22, C-5, C-17, C-130, P-3, CH-53/MH-53, CH-46, HH/SH/MH-60, AH-1W/Z, AH-64, and UH-1N/Y -- that span the U.S. military services and several allied nations. As the next generation threat warning system, the JATAS is initially planned for integration onto the MV-22B, MH-60R, MH-60S, AH-1Z, and UH-1Y platforms. Future platform integration requirements will be determined by the military services.

The ATK team will commence the 48-month EMD phase, which will focus on transitioning the design from development prototypes to production representative systems. Contract work will be performed in ATK's Clearwater (Florida), and Woodland Hills (California) facilities, and BAE Systems' Nashua (New Hampshire) facility. Work is expected to be completed in September 2015. Other members of the JATAS industry team include DRS and Goodrich.