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SDI Delivers First Block 40 F/A-36A fighter to the Arcaenian Air Force
New Upgrades said to improve the aircraft's electronic warfare capability
An F/A-36A of the Arcaenian Air Force in Flight over northern Hyperia
Hyperia, February 5th, 2016 - Syndicate Defense Industries announces it has delivered the first of its block 40 F/A-36A Seraph fighters to the Arcaenian Air Force's 1st Tactical Fighter Wing, the first of several AAF squadrons who will receive the latest version of the F/A-36 Fighter.
"We are incredibly proud of our government and industry team whose steadfast dedication to this project led to the successful delivery of the first block 40 F/A-36A today," said John Sweetman, SDI's executive vice president and F/A-36 program general manager. "The exceptional capabilities of this 6th generation fighter are now in the very capable hands of the Arcaenian Air Combat Command's 1st Tactical Fighter Wing who are ushering in a new era of aerial dominance. We look forward to delivering our full complement of block 40 F/A-36 aircraft to the Arcaenian Air Force in the coming months and years".
Based at Thule Air Force Base in Northern Hyperia, also the home of Arcaenian Air Force's Flight Testing Center, the 1st Fighter Wing of Arcaenian Air Combat Command is expected to receive its full complement of 24 Block 40 F/A-36 Aircraft within the next several months. The Block 40 F/A-36A is the latest variant of the SDI F/A-36A, the primary fighter aircraft operated by the Arcaenian Air Force. One of the first 6th generation fighter aircraft, the F/A-36 combines all aspect broadband stealth, mach 2 supercruise, directed energy weaponry, fluidic controls, adaptive-cycle engines, and advanced network-centric and sensor fusion capability, although it has been criticized for it's extremely high price tag and the relative immaturity of some of its cutting edge technology. The Block 40 F/A-36A adds additional electronic warfare capability to the F/A-36 platform including the ability to use it's X band active electronically scanned radar as a high power microwave weapon. "The Block 40 adds a linear transform driver to the APG-96 radar system which gives us the ability to emit bursts of high power microwave energy" explains Sweetman. "The APG-96 uses our proprietary GaN-on-diamond T/R module architecture which can support over 5 times the power density of legacy Gallium Arsenide Systems. With this we can support extremely high peak power levels, over 50 kilowatts, which is useful for burning through jamming, amongst other things. When connected to the LTD, which delivers a series of extremely rapid high power pulses, the radar can emit short bursts of microwave energy which can knock out unshielded electrical systems like computers at tactically useful ranges". The Block 40 also adds a new SATCOM terminal which will provide continuous network connectivity and two-way, secure voice and data communications during deep-strike missions and a new Tactical Targeting Network Datalink (TTND) low-latency IP networking communication system with extremely high bandwidth and throughput capability designed to allow the F/A-36A to transmit and receive large amounts of sensor-data in real time to friendly aircraft, ships, or ground stations.
The Block 40 F/A-36A also features integration of the latest version of SDI's SKYNET electronic warfare computer program. SKYNET, also known as the Integrated Network Attack System, is a computer program developed by SDI in collaboration with the Arcaenian Cyber Force which is designed to infiltrate the computers of enemy early warning and air defense systems. "SKYNET uses electromagnetic waves emitted by the aircraft's electronic warfare systems to infiltrate sealed cable networks" explains Sweetman. "SKYNET infects the target computer with self-replicating malware that quickly infects the entire system, giving us access to the enemy's entire computer network. With SKYNET we monitor enemy communications through the infection of secure datalinks, we can see what enemy sensors are displaying, and can even take control of the entire network to direct sensors away from attacking units or to spoof them into engaging nonexistent targets." Although quite potent, according to Sweetman due to signal strength and bandwidth issues the system apparently has a rather short range which requires the aircraft to be in close proximity to the target to be successful. "The technology is fairly immature, it's something we're going to spend a lot of resources on going forward" he added.