As alliance's ground surveillance competition begins, consortia take radically different positions
NATO will formally kick start its Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) competition early next month with the Northrop Grumman-led Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS) and the rival Raytheon-led Co-operative TransAtlantic AGS Solution (CTAS) offering markedly different approaches to meeting the requirement for battlefield surveillance.
The two consortia expect to be issued with a request for proposals (RFP) next month for $500,000 study contracts to be completed by late November.
The alliance's AGS working group is to select a winner by mid-January and award a two-year $350 million design and development contract before the end of next year. NATO's Prague summit last year set itself the goal of having an initial operational capability by 2010.
NATO is looking at two options based around either eight manned aircraft or a mix of four manned and four unmanned air vehicles with in-flight remote control, both linked to a network of 24 control units. Northrop Grumman and partners EADS, Galileo Avionica and Thales are proposing the Airbus A321, which is large enough to support 14 consoles, along with the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance UAV. "This gives us the flexibilty for potential growth," says Northrop Grumman programme director Matt Copija.
The platforms would be equipped with different-sized versions of the planned Transatlantic Collaborative AGS Radar (TCAR) developed from a combination of the US Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Programme (MP-RTIP) with the European SOSTAR-X demonstrator. The A321 would be able to accommodate an antenna measuring around 5.5 x 0.61m (18 x 2ft), while NATO would like to put a 2.75m-long array on a UAV, larger than the MP-RTIP planned for the US Air Force's RQ-4A, for improved ground moving target indication.
Raytheon and BAE Systems' offering is based around the same modified Bombardier Global Express business jet airframe as the UK's ASTOR system, but with a 4.6m TCAR array. "This would fit on to the existing platform without playing with the design, so reducing the risk, while this has never been done on an A321," says Geoff Telford, Raytheon C4ISR business development. Raytheon says it would like the flexibility to offer the RQ-4B or an alternative smaller medium-endurance vehicle.
Source: Flight International
