Northrop Grumman has completed initial flight testing of an Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) capability for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon were awarded AMSTE development contracts late last year. The aim is to dramatically increase the ability to engage moving ground targets at longer ranges and in all weather with low cost weapons. By fusing data from radars installed on satellites and manned and unmanned surveillance platforms, AMSTE would provide target position updates to munitions in flight. The challenge is to maintain track of a mobile target's position prior to an attack. Military vehicles mix with civilian traffic and use terrain masking to avoid detection.
Northrop Grumman's flight test, conducted at the Eglin AFB, Florida, test range, evaluated its E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System's ground moving target indicator radar coupled with the company's Active Electrically Scanned Array multimode radar developed for Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter candidate.
The equipment mounted on the company's BAC One-Eleven testbed gathered track data in real time. The data will be used to validate algorithms and the design.
Source: Flight International
