Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business, was awarded a foreign military sales contract to deliver the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System, or JPALS, to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Traffic Management Systems Program Office (PMA-213). The software-based, high-integrity differential GPS navigation and precision landing system, will be deployed on the JS Izumo, the JMSDF’s carrier. The JPALS system guides aircraft onto carriers and amphibious assault ships in all weather and surface conditions and is integrated on the F-35. Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) is being deployed on all U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. In addition, JPALS is deployed on two international platforms: the UK Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth, and the ITS Cavour, an Italian aircraft carrier, to support their F-35 squadron. Primary work locations for this effort are in Largo, Florida, and Fullerton, California.
“Over the past few years, we’ve been engaged with the U.S. Navy and Japan to deliver enhanced safety and increased operational capability to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, ensuring landing accuracy every time for pilots regardless of weather conditions. We have so far delivered 22 systems to the U.S. Navy on time or ahead of schedule, and we look forward to continuing that success for Japan,” said Denis Donohue, president, Surveillance and Network Systems at RI&S.
In 2021, United States Marine Corps F-35B fighters operated off the Izumo for the first time. The two F-35Bs from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, to operate on Izumo to test modifications to the big deck warship so the short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) version of the F-35 can operate from the ship. In 2022, Raytheon Intelligence & Space an $8.6-million contract to deliver a joint precision approach and landing system (JPALS) to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force . Izumo completed the first of a two-stage modification in June that will enable it to operate the F-35, with the first stage adding heat resistant coating to the flight deck and marking flight lines for F-35B operations. The second stage of Izumo’s conversion and the full stage of Kaga’s conversion will involve a change of the shape of the ships’ bows, along with interior reconfiguration that will allow them to embark and fully operate F-35s.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is in the process of procuring a Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) for its helicopter carrier JS Izumo. The JPALS is a ship’s system, all-weather landing system based on real-time differential correction of the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal, augmented with a local area correction message, and transmitted to the user via secure means. The system would allow Japan to operate Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighters from the ship. The onboard receiver compares the current GPS-derived position with the local correction signal, deriving a highly accurate three-dimensional position capable of being used for all-weather approaches via an Instrument Landing System-style display. The capability has supported F-35B flights on US Navy LH-class amphibious assault ships since 2016 and F-35C flights on the service’s aircraft carriers since 2021.
