CHRISTINA MACKENZIE / PARIS
EADS, Galileo Avionica and Northrop Grumman have presented a joint proposal to fulfil NATO's long-standing requirement for an airborne ground surveillance (AGS) capability owned and operated by the alliance.
The companies, which say their initiative is open to other partners, have submitted a white paper to NATO presenting their Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS).
The partners say TIPS would provide NATO with an affordable, six-aircraft fleet with 24 ground stations, with a core capability to be available by 2010. This core capability, they suggest, could be complemented by surveillance assets owned by NATO member nations, such as helicopters, aircraft and unmanned air vehicles.
However, EADS says that, in order to have the system operational by 2010, NATO members must hone their requirement. "The request was not detailed and no budget ceiling has been fixed. The discussions must now turn to the concrete," EADS says, adding that "a decision must be made in the course of next year".
The partners say they would co-operate in developing a radar sensor and integrating it on a mid-size aircraft such as the Airbus A320. The active electronically scanned array radar would be based on technology developed by European companies for the Stand-Off Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar technology demonstrator, and by US companies for the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Programme.
The TIPS team says that its"system of systems" approach would help meet the AGS capability identified in NATO's Defence Capabilities Initiative.
Although other solutions to NATO's AGS requirement have been submitted in the past 10 years, the TIPS offer is currently the only active one. EADS says no workshare has yet been agreed between the partner companies.
"This question will be addressed when the requirement is more specific," says EADS.
Source: Flight International
