NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) fleet is to comprise just four manned and four unmanned aircraft, according to a new industry response to the organisation's May 2006 request for proposals. The AGS Industries consortium last week submitted what it describes as a "fully compliant" solution for NATO's proposed €3.3 billion ($4.1 billion) AGS system, but confirms that two aircraft have been removed from its earlier project model. The new proposal for design and development of the AGS system includes four modified Airbus A321s equipped with the Transatlantic Cooperative AGS Radar payload and four "off-the-shelf" Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs carrying the US-developed Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Programme sensor reductions of one aircraft per platform type.
AGS Industries expects NATO's Conference of National Armament Directors to discuss the project during a late October meeting.
Source: Flight International
