The Spanish Ministry of Defence has contracted Indra to upgrade the Spanish Amy’s ground-based air defense with the latest friend or foe (IFF) system.
The contract calls for the integration of the Mode 5/S IFF radar system, which enables greater positive identification of an air force’s own aircraft, avoiding friendly fire.
An IFF sends out encrypted interrogation signals that only platforms aware of the codes can decrypt and respond to.
Latest Friend or Foe System
The Mode 5 is the replacement for the Mode 4 and is deployed by NATO and allied nations, making its employment a necessity.
It is more difficult to intercept by the adversary as the interrogation codes are regularly changed by the cryptographic equipment integrated into the interrogator.
Additionally, the Mode 5 provides more information on the aircraft than a traditional mode, enabling to ascertain its position, identification number and callsign, among other data.
It identifies aircraft “through selective interrogations that avoid any unnecessary radio emissions and facilitate a stealthier and safer operation,” Indra explains.
Lightweight, Compact
The system is lightweight and compact to support rapid deployment and redeployment of the mobile air defense system, the Spanish defense firm said.
“The company will integrate the new IFFs into the firing direction centers of the current light and medium-sized anti-aircraft artillery operations centers via their respective short and medium-range radars,” Indra added.
“It will also renew the intelligent terminals associated with the Mistral short-range missile launching positions while incorporating the new IFFs into the Skydor firing directions, the medium-range Hawk batteries and its operations center.”