This important milestone comes less than a year after SELEX Galileo announced delivery of the 100th AGP and is a testament to the successful collaboration with Boeing.
The AGP is an Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE) controller contained within a single, flight-qualified Line Replaceable Unit. It is designed to integrate federated ASE sensors and countermeasures to provide a combined threat picture and prioritized tactical response to the user.
Beatrice Nicholas, Senior Vice President of Electronic Warfare at SELEX Galileo said, "The fact that the AGP is operational with the U.S. Army and other Apache users gives us great pride. Furthermore, with the AGP designed to allow future versions of ASE to be fully integrated with the aircraft processors and displays, SELEX Galileo is confident that it will continue to be of great benefit to the U.S. Army and international Apache customers."
The AGP is derived from the Defensive Aids System controller in the combat-proven Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids System (HIDAS), currently protecting British Army Apaches in Afghanistan as well as those of the Kuwaiti and Greek armed forces.
To date, SELEX Galileo has received orders from Boeing for 360 Aircraft Gateway Processor units. Orders from Boeing for an additional 500 systems are forecast over the coming years. Following successful testing by the U.S. Army at Fort Rucker in 2009, the first AGP-equipped Apaches have been delivered to the U.S. Army and UAE Armed Forces for entry into service.
The confidence shown by Boeing and the U.S. Army Apache Program Office in the AGP was a contributing factor to its 2008 selection by the UK Ministry of Defense (MOD) as part of an Urgent Operational Requirement to upgrade CH-47D Chinooks. Now in operational service with the Royal Air Force, the AGP hardware was modified with HIDAS software for the Chinook mission in just 9 months. The project has been deemed a success by the MOD for the manner in which it was executed and by operational Chinook crews for the performance enhancements it provides. The upgrade, known as Project Baker, is now being rolled out on RAF Puma helicopters as well.
For more information, check Al-Defaiya Issue # 3/2011
