May 12 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman is delivering the first low-rate production units of the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, or G/ATOR, to the Marine Corps, the company announced Thursday.
G/ATOR has passed the final tests needed for acceptance, production, and delivery. The first contract had been awarded in October 2014, and an additional five systems are being sent to the Marine Corps.
"Today's threat environment, and the threat environment of the future, demands the unprecedented level of protection offered by the G/ATOR system," Roshan Roeder, vice president, mission solutions, Northrop Grumman, said in press release. "Through our strong partnership with the Marine Corps, Northrop Grumman is providing warfighters with capabilities that can outmatch any other system."
The G/ATOR system is a significant upgrade to previous models. Software advancements mean that scanning modes can be switched at a push of a button compared to more cumbersome methods in earlier systems. It is designed to integrate with multiple types of command-and-control systems. The radar can be employed by either helicopter or vehicle.
The G/ATOR is a development of battlefield Active Electronically Scanned Array radar. The antenna can direct the radio waves without having to adjust the antenna and at multiple frequencies at once, making the system much more efficient than earlier models such as the Passive Electronically Scanned Array.
