{"id":1835,"date":"2025-08-10T08:11:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T06:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1835"},"modified":"2025-06-08T09:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T07:49:35","slug":"lockheed-martin-plans-to-integrate-new-defensive-system-on-f-22-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1835","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin Plans to Integrate New Defensive System on F-22"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">Lockheed Martin said on Wednesday that it has received a $270 million U.S. Air Force contract to integrate the Infrared Defensive System (IRDS) on the company\u2019s fifth-generation F-22 Raptor fighter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The company said that IRDS has a number of \u201cnewly developed\u201d tactical surveillance, reconnaissance, and tracking sensors to enhance aircraft survivability and lethality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn addition to managing integration of IRDS on the F-22, the company will also support integration on other platforms,\u201d Lockheed Martin said.<\/p>\n<p>While the Air Force\u2019s manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter has an uncertain future, the service is moving forward with upgrading sensors on the F-22.<\/p>\n<p><span data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">Last August, the Air Force awarded RTX\u2018s Raytheon a nearly five-year contract that could be worth more than $1 billion for work in McKinney, Texas, to upgrade sensors for the F-22.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Air Force plans to retire its older, 32 Block 20 F-22s, but is undertaking a program to upgrade the remaining 154 F-22 Raptors with new cryptography, an expanded open architecture, new weapons, the infrared search and track sensor, and a \u201cProject Keystone\u201d effort to install an advanced threat warning receiver.<\/p>\n<p><span data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">The program is to cost more than $4.3 billion between fiscal 2023 and 2029.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe F-22 team is working really hard on executing a modernization roadmap to field advanced sensors, connectivity, weapons, and other capabilities that are relevant to the INDOPACOM theater,\u201d Air Force Brig. Gen. Jason Voorheis, the program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, said last July.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Raptor team recently conducted six flight test efforts to demo and assess advanced sensors on the F-22 required to complete an ongoing rapid prototyping MTA for the program,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will lead to a decision on the rapid fielding MTA in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MTA refers to the Middle Tier of Acquisition, which is also a reference to rapid prototyping.<\/p>\n<p>Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet has pushed back on the views of the world\u2019s richest man and top Trump adviser Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, who has said that manned fighters are a relic in the age of drones.<\/p>\n<p><span data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure that a $25,000 drone will have no effect on a Chinese J-20 [fighter] jet,\u201d Taiclet said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif., last month. \u201cWhen you see 400 J-20s coming across the Taiwan Strait, you better have 200 NGADs or F-35s or F-22s to meet them, or you will lose, and you will lose right away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lockheed Martin said on Wednesday that it has received a $270 million U.S. Air Force contract to integrate the Infrared Defensive System (IRDS) on the company\u2019s fifth-generation F-22 Raptor fighter. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[260,156,379],"class_list":["post-1835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-air","tag-f-22","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-usaf"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/F-22-USAF.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1835"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1881,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions\/1881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}