LONDON—Protecting space systems from attack is emerging as a growth opportunity for BAE Systems PLC, a senior company executive said, particularly given the Pentagon's worries about safeguarding some of its most sensitive spacecraft.

Space "is a new frontier," said Tom Arseneault, Chief Operating Officer of BAE Systems, Inc., the U.S. arm overseeing most of the company's defense-electronics activities. "It is an area where full-up electronic warfare capability is of increasing interest," he said.

Interest in protecting satellites was spurred by China's successful test of an antisatellite weapon in 2007. The kill vehicle destroyed an out-of-service Chinese weather satellite, creating a huge debris field. The Pentagon in a report to Congress this year said China was continuing with tests that appear to be linked to advancing antisatellite capabilities.

Mr. Arseneault said the 2007 test caused a ripple effect not unlike that generated by the Soviet Union's shooting down of Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 spy plane using a long-range, antiaircraft missile some 56 years ago. The highflying U-2 was expected to be safe and had no self-protection equipment. Mr. Powers, who flew the spy plane for the Central Intelligence Agency, was captured and held prisoner for almost two years.

"If someone can show they can shoot down a satellite just like they could shoot down a U-2 back in 1960, self-protection is a concern," Mr. Arseneault said.

Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Air Force Space Command in April said the U.S. could no longer assume its spacecraft were safe in announcing an initiative to bolster spacecraft defenses. The effort also includes the National Reconnaissance Office, he said, which builds U.S. spy satellites.

Mr. Arseneault wouldn't detail specific projects BAE was pursuing, but said the Pentagon was putting more money into such efforts.

BAE Systems makes equipment to protect everything from Boeing Co. AH-64 attack helicopters to the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's biggest weapons program. The company's Electronic Systems unit, which had about $4 billion in sales last year, generated roughly a third from its electronic-warfare activities, Mr. Arseneault said.

After a period during which BAE was bidding on many high-profile Pentagon electronic warfare programs, Mr. Arseneault said the focus now has shifted to securing upgrades to existing platforms.

The company has had mixed success in winning some of the big-ticket items. It has secured a key position on the Pentagon's new B-21 bomber, being developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. BAE lost an important U.S. Navy jammer project to Raytheon Co. and a U.S. Army helicopter self-protection program to Northrop Grumman Corp.

"Big franchise programs are behind us right now," Mr. Arseneault said. The company, for instance, is competing to against Northrop Grumman to upgrade Air Force Special Operations C-130 planes. BAE Systems also would play a key part on a U.S. Air Force program to modernize a plane used to jam enemy radar systems. The plan to shift the mission from a C-130 transport plane to a business jet has met congressional opposition, though.

Mr. Arseneault said the company also is looking for Boeing to win more export orders for the F-15 jet fighter, for which it provides the electronic-warfare system. Qatar is considering buying the plane.

The miniaturizing of electronics is making application of sophisticated electronic-warfare equipment feasible in other domains, such as making more sophisticated missiles or protecting increasingly sophisticated and expensive drones.

Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 22, 2016 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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