Alan Dron
Northrop Grumman hopes it will receive a contract for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of its NATO transatlantic advanced radar (NATAR) project next month, company officials said at the show.
The NATAR project aims to answer a need for a new airborne ground surveillance radar for the alliance. This capability has taken on particular significance in recent years with the conflicts in the Balkans, where accurate information on confusing ground movements of troops has often been at a premium.
NATAR emerged from a US government proposal for an advanced radar, based on equipment used in the E-8A JSTARS and its follow-on radar technology insertion programme (RTIP), on a platform of NATO's choice. While NATAR brings together the USA, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg and Norway, another group of European nations, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain is pursuing an alternative programme, the stand-off surveillance and target acquisition radar, or SOSTAR.
Northrop Grumman is now looking for potential industrial participants in NATAR throughout Europe, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. It proposes mounting NATAR on an Airbus A321. Like JSTARS, its main antenna will be carried in a canoe fairing under the forward fuselage.
It will have 12 operator consoles, together with a conference area large enough for around six people, plus a crew rest area. Eighteen racks in the aft fuselage will carry the mission system's 304 line replaceable units (LRUs). If the EMD phase is awarded and completed on schedule, the NATAR team is aiming for a contract award in 2003, with delivery of the first of a batch of six aircraft in 2007.
Source: Flight Daily News
