BAE Systems' Long Island unit wins $26M 'friend vs. foe' contract

The Long Island unit of defense contractor BAE Systems Inc. has won a $26 million contract for systems that allow U.S. Navy command-and-control planes to distinguish friendly forces from hostile ones.

Under the five-year contract, BAE's Greenlawn unit will produce beam-forming networks, which focus wireless signals for the "identification friend or foe" systems on E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft.

Turboprop E-2Ds, which can be deployed on aircraft carriers, are used to coordinate air traffic, identify enemy forces and manage complex battlefields.

"These sets will provide situational awareness and early warning for U.S. Navy sailors and warfighters," said Donna Linke-Klein, director of Tactical Systems at BAE Systems.

The Greenlawn site, with about 600 employees, makes products for combat identification, command-and-control computing and hyperspectral sensing, which combines images from a wider portion of the electromagnetic spectrum than can be seen by humans.

"These technologies will continue to be in demand," Linke-Klein said, given the Defense Department's pivot from an emphasis on counter-insurgency to threats from rival nations. "Our sensors and technologies enable, source, and process the information needed for the interconnected [battlefield] environment."

Northrop Grumman's E-2D, with a distinctive circular radome above its fuselage, is the successor to the E-2 developed by Grumman Aircraft Company in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Linke-Klein said the Greenlawn unit "will continually have need for qualified personnel" as its production and development areas grow.

On Wednesday, the BAE website listed 31 job openings in Greenlawn, including positions for engineers, technicians, analysts and managers.

In December 2020, the Greenlawn unit snared a share of a $60 million contract to make sensors for anti-ship missiles.

The two-year contract for long-range sensors and targeting technology was divided among BAE's facilities in Greenlawn, Wayne, New Jersey. and Nashua, New Hampshire.

BAE Systems Inc. is the American arm of BAE Systems plc, a British multinational defense and aerospace manufacturer.

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.