NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, Patuxent River, Md. -- Skies are becoming a little friendlier for our military members thanks to a little grey box.

This month, the 10,000th  Mark XIIA Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system, or Mode 5 capable Common Digital Transponder, rolled off the production line in preparation for installation on nearly every surface, subsurface and airborne, manned and unmanned, platform of the Navy, Army, Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command. 

Mode 5, a product of the Naval Air Traffic Management Systems Program Office (PMA-213), is a cooperative identification system that uses installed interrogators and transponders to send, receive and process friendly identification of targets.

“Mode 5 provides the warfighter with positive, secure and reliable line-of-sight identification of friendly air and surface platforms,” said Capt. Darrell Lack, PMA-213 program manager. “It improves situational awareness, reduces fratricide, reduces enemy disruption of IFF functions and ensures the safe return of friendly aircraft.”

The Mode 5 system full-rate production decision was reached in 2012, it is a modification to the existing Mode 4 system in use by the United States and its allies for more than 45 years.

Since 2006, production maturity was demonstrated through low-rate initial production deliveries and in 2012 the system was determined to be “Effective and Suitable” during Integrated Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E).

Tests were conducted on multiple ship and airborne platforms that included: Guided Missile Destroyers (DDG), Cruisers (CG), USAF F-15C/E’s, E-3 AWACS, F/A-18C, MH-60R/S, AH-1Z, UH-1Y, P-3C and Army UH-60L and AH-64D helicopters.

“Mode 5 IOT&E was a truly integrated test effort,” said Tracy Wathen, assistant Program Executive Officer for Tactical Aircraft (PEO(T))  for test and evaluation. “The integrated test team showed great planning and facilitated data sharing with Commander Operational Test Forces (COTF) to supplement their test points.”

While Mode 5 is a military asset, it is compatible with civilian IFF systems to ensure interoperability of military and civilian aircraft. This capability will be a part of the Combat Identification (CID) Family-of-Systems strategy employed by U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)/Allied forces.

Once fielded, the Mode 5 capability will be a key enabler for both surface and airborne advanced warfare strategies.

“The Mode 5 capability brings an order of magnitude increase in confidence of secure identification and level of situational awareness to the warfighter,” Lack said. “High confidence in identifying contacts and bringing home our men and women home safely makes the system worth more than its weight in gold.”