Northrop Grumman to develop radar technology for NATO drone

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $13 million sole-source contract from the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center to develop, implement, test and sustain Radar Technology Insertion Program (RTIP) sensor technology for NATO at Sigonella Air Base in Italy.

'This contract involves unclassified Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to NATO,' the DoD stated on 2 September.

RTIP is the wide-area ground surveillance radar for the RQ-4D Phoenix UAS, which forms part of the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance system of systems. RTIP allows the AGS to fuse sensor data, continuously detect and track moving objects and provide imagery of selected objects.

The company will also conduct maintenance and repair activities for the NATO Integrated Mission Management Computer at Sigonella.

Work is expected to be completed by 30 September 2023.