Naval Base Quantico, Va. US Marine Corps surveillance experts are asking Northrop Grumman to build 14 new ground-mobile radar systems to help Marines on shore attack against rockets, artillery, mortars, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other low-altitude targets. to protect visible
Officials with the Marine Corps Systems Command at Naval Base Quantico, Va., last month awarded a $513 million order to Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems Division in Linthicum, Md. They announced for 14 ground/air radars (G). /ATOR) systems.
G/ATOR is a multi-purpose, 3D, short-to-medium range radar system designed to detect low visibility targets with a low radar cross section such as missiles, artillery, mortars, cruise missiles and UAVs. Officials say Marine Corps leaders are developing and fielding G/ATOR in three blocks for use by the Marine Corps Ground Forces in a wide range of military operations.
Northrop Grumman is upgrading the G/ATOR by changing the system’s gallium arsenide (GaAs) technology to gallium nitride (GaN) technology. G/ATOR originally developed with GaAs RF and microwave integrated circuit technology.
Related: Lockheed Martin builds four AN-TPY-4 3DELRR air defense radar systems to help protect US invading forces.
In 2015, Northrop Grumman began converting its G/ATOR radar systems from GaAs to GaN technology to make the system more effective, lower costs, and reduce weight and power consumption.
Replacing the older gallium arsenide technology with gallium nitride electronics will help Northrop Grumman and the Marine Corps reduce the mass of the G/ATOR system without compromising performance, officials said.
Reducing size, weight and power consumption (SWaP) is especially important for the G/ATOR system as Marine Corps leaders plan to use the system on assault beaches to help defend Marine expeditionary forces against low-observability threats. The system must be small and light enough to accompany the Marines on their initial ground assaults.
Northrop Grumman built the G/ATOR for Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) and Tactical Air Operations Center (TAOC) missions, including Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF). The extension I designed was to provide growth for all subsequent increments without redesigning the equipment and to provide an open architecture to allow for upgrades with subsequent increments.
Related: Navy asks IMSAR to develop multi-mode radar for small UAV capable of tracking moving targets on the ground
The G/ATOR program was supposed to showcase new component technologies, including VPX embedded fast computing switch fabric connectivity. As part of the first increase in the G/ATOR program, Northrop Grumman awarded a $4.3 million contract to Curtiss-Wright Corp.’s Defense Solutions division in 2008. Awarded to be delivered in Ashburn, Virginia, for VPX-based embedded computers for radar signal processing. Until 2010
G/ATOR’s Ground Weapon Locating Radar (GWLR) section uses Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar technology to provide multiple different radar missions and automatically adapt to changing battlefield conditions.
Thus, Northrop Grumman does this in Linthicum Heights and Hampstead, Md. East Syracuse and Rochester, New York; Stafford Springs, Conn. Tulsa, Okla. Santa Clarita and San Diego, California; Atlanta; and other locations, and should be completed by October 2028.
For more information, contact Northrop Grumman Mission Systems online at www.northropgrumman.com/who-we-are/business-sectors/mission-systems.
#Northrop #Grumman #building #GATOR #multipurpose #radar #systems #protect #Marines #drones
Image Source : www.militaryaerospace.com