Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have agreed to develop the Radar Technology Insertion Programme (RTIP) radar upgrade for the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS), ending a row between the companies over the project.
Research and development work will be split 50:50, with Raytheon becoming a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman. The deal stipulates that Northrop Grumman will have overall responsibility for the design and development of the next-generation JSTARS radar with Raytheon working on RTIP antenna development.
"This agreement will allow us to use the best combination of each company's expertise and capabilities to meet the RTIP requirements," says James Roche, president of Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems division.
A planned wholesale replacement of the Northrop Grumman APY-3 radar, RTIP will offer increased moving target indication (MTI) resolution and scan rate, better synthetic aperture radar (SAR) resolution, and simultaneous operation of MTI and SAR.
Northrop Grumman hopes to win the UK's $1.3 billion Airborne Standoff Radar project with a radar system offering RTIP technology.
Source: Flight International
