The UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) £800 million ($1.3 billion) Airborne Stand-off Radar (ASTOR) project is on the brink of becoming a tri-service requirement. The Royal Navy is likely to join the programme, which is designed to provide the UK armed forces with an advanced airborne-surveillance capability.
The project was originally conceived as a joint Royal Air Force/Army programme - but the RN is keen to join to provide near-real-time surveillance imagery for aircraft carriers and helicopter assault ships.
Two teams are competing for the programme. Lockheed Martin is offering the Gulfstream GV business jet as the aircraft platform, while Raytheon is pushing the Bombardier Global Express.
The ASTOR's emergence as a tri-service requirement will strengthen its chances of surviving the UK Government's new Strategic Defence Review.
The MoD is keen to propose the eventual competition winner to NATO, to meet the alliance's requirement for a similar airborne-surveillance capability.
That requirement, however, is becoming increasingly politicised as the US Government and some Department of Defense officials throw their weight behind Northrop Grumman's attempt to win the deal with its E-8 Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).
Northrop Grumman is offering to provide two US Air Force aircraft until the first of six dedicated NATO units become available. The company made a similar, but unsuccessful, proposal to the UK MoD, effectively letting it choose its own date for taking aircraft originally intended for the USAF.
The UK rejected the E-8 JSTARS as a contender because it failed to meet requirements.
Northrop Grumman is offering several radar upgrades covering enhanced, inverse and swathe synthetic-aperture radars for NATO. Alliance members are to meet in November to decide on the next step in a $3 billion project, the future of which is still uncertain.
Source: Flight International
