Defence

Northrop Grumman has launched development of a miniaturised signals intelligence payload in the hope of capturing a rising market for niche applications of small unmanned aircraft systems.

The company's Electronic Systems division has won a $5.4 million contract to adapt a ground-based signals receiver for the US Marine Corps' future fleet of Tier II tactical UAS.

Dubbed the warfighter tactical SIGINT resource (WTSR) programme, the effort is aimed at extending a capability normally reserved for headquarters units to front-line troops facing increasingly sophisticated electronic threats.

"Think in terms of a generic SIGINT capability," says WTSR programme manager Fred Bean. "We're trying to do things on the front lines if you will."

The three-year WTSR contract calls for Northrop to adapt its lightweight ground-based XR2000 system for use by an unmanned system, with Northrop having selected the blended-wing Swift Engineering Killer Bee-4 UAS for the demonstration.

Asked if the adapted XR2000 will be ready for production after the three-year development phase, Bean answers: "Let's just say it will be prototyped and ready to transition."

The Swift KB-4 is teamed with Raytheon to compete for the US Navy/USMC small tactical UAS (STUAS)/Tier II contract. The KB-4 was originally teamed with Northrop's Integrated Systems division, but that partnership broke apart last year.