The European Union’s Responsive Electronic Attack for Cooperative Tasks program will enter its second phase in the next few months, Indra Sistemas, the Spanish defense contractor heading the consortium working on the project, told Defense News.
The project aims to provide a design for airborne electronic attack capabilities as well as a system to protect EU warplanes from missile attacks and allow the Union’s air forces to operate in contested anti-access/area denial environments.
Indra’s partners in the consortium, which won the contract in June, include European sensor makers Hensoldt, Elettronica and Saab.
In the project’s first phase, the consortium developed operational scenarios, conducted studies on potential threats and drafted preliminary designs on the AEAC architecture and specifications, Indra’s director of airborne platforms systems, Raul Palarin, told Defense News.
According to Defense News, REACT is expected to be finished in four years and cost approximately $74.5 million, including $42.8 million in EU contributions. The spending will cover studies, design, prototyping, tests and qualification of the new capabilities.
The program will be managed by the international group Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, Defense News reported.