Ultra Electronics Precision Air Systems recently won a U.S. Navy contract worth over $8 million to supply its High Pressure Pure Air Generators (HiPPAG) airborne compressors for Canadian CF-18 aircraft.
“The Canadian Air Force was looking for a highly-reliable system to support heat-seeking missiles during demanding airborne applications, while reducing their logistics footprint,” Andy Yates, managing director of Ultra’s Precision Air Systems, told sister publication Defense Daily recently during a telephone interview. “HiPPAG is proven in service and conflict, and after years of hard work on this deal we are very pleased with the selection.”
The HiPPAG contract was procured under a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to meet Canada’s requirement to support Sidewinder missiles on CF-18 aircraft. This latest order brings the total number of HiPPAGs purchased for Boeing [BA] F/A-18 aircraft to over 1,900 systems.
Yates said Ultra is working diligently on additional FMS opportunities for international customers equipped with F/A-18s and Sidewinders that require cryogenic cooling. He was optimistic that further deals could come to fruition within the next 18 months.
HiPPAG is a rugged, high performance miniature compressor system which provides a continuous source of high-pressure, pure air for cooling the seekers of heat-seeking Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
The HiPPAGs are mounted in the launch rail attached on the aircraft wings. Ultra’s HiPPAG systems have been in service on F/A-18 aircraft since 1997 and have accumulated more than three million flying hours and demonstrated impressive reliability, exceeding three thousand flying hours between failures.
On the back of HiPPAG’s recent successes in the United States and Europe, Yates said the company was gaining momentum on its other compact on-board gas solutions used for stores ejection and release systems. “We’ve taken the technology and adapted it to different applications. We are very excited about domestic opportunities with the F-35,” he added.
HiPPAG provides the energy source for pneumatic ejection and has also been qualified for the pneumatic bomb rack systems for the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter) aircraft that is in low rate initial production.
Ultra’s compressor systems are the only compressor systems in service for pneumatic bomb ejection applications. The company has supplied about 1200 units in support of Boeing’s Small Diameter Bomb program for the U.S. Air Force’s, Yates said.
Ultra is also offering systems for the future Multi Purpose Bomb Rack (MPBR) teamed with prime contractor Raytheon [RTN]. The Pentagon this week awarded Raytheon a $32.4 million engineering and manufacturing development contract for the non-pyrotechnic MPBR for release of weapons and stores employed on BRU-33, BRU-41, BRU- 42, and BRU-55 bomb racks. “This is another very exciting opportunity…[on] an important program for the U.S. Navy that has the potential to grow with other customers as it moves from design and development to production over the coming years,” Yates said.
HiPPAG deliveries will begin this year to Canada, and Ultra is working with the Canadian Air Force on potential long term logistics and system support agreements, he added.