USMC awards contract to Northrop for two G/ATOR systems

The US Marine Corps (USMC) has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman for two additional AN/TPS-80 ground/air task-oriented radar (G/ATOR) systems.

Northrop’s additional award for G/ATOR systems is part of the full-rate production Lot 2 award secured by the company in December last year.

During the same month, Saab secured a contract from Northrop to supply subsystems for the G/ATOR systems.

With the latest order, Northrop will complete the delivery of a total of eight systems to the USMC under Lot 2.

Northrop Grumman land and maritime sensors vice-president Mike Meaney said: “We are continuing to provide an advanced, multi-mission capability that meets the evolving needs of our customers.

“This order also enables us to keep the G/ATOR production pipeline full in anticipation for a Lot 3 award next year.”

In June last year, Northrop received a contract worth $958m from the USMC to provide an additional 30 gallium nitride-based (GaN) G/ATOR systems. The contract for Lot 6 full-rate production of the systems also included spare parts and retrofit kits.

The advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) multi-mission radar AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR leverages GaN to provide comprehensive real-time, full-sector, 360° situational awareness against various threats.

It is an expeditionary, three-dimensional, short-to-medium-range multi-role radar system and has been designed to detect, identify, and track cruise missiles.

The radar is also capable of tracking manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, rockets, mortars and artillery fire.

The USMC took delivery of the first G/ATOR system integrated with GaN antenna technology from Northrop in July 2018.