AMDR radar

Northrop Grumman has successfully completed technology demonstration contract for the US Navy’s air and missile defence radar (AMDR) at its test site.

Under the contract, Northrop validated the maturity of its AMDR technology and advancing of the tactical system’s design.

Equipped with active electronically scanned array (AESA) S-band radar, the AMDR prototype system also completed far field range testing and demonstrated its performance after being operational at full-power for all waveforms.

Northrop Grumman’s advanced concepts and technologies division vice president and general manager Pat Antkowiak said: "This contract performance clearly establishes the maturity and readiness of the Northrop Grumman AMDR design to begin the engineering and manufacturing development phase."

Antkowiak added that the affordable S-band AESA system featured a fully open and modular architecture to meet customer requirements and evolve according to changing technology progression and mission requirements.

“This contract performance clearly establishes the maturity and readiness of the Northrop Grumman AMDR design to begin the engineering and manufacturing development phase."

Northrop received a two-year $120m contract in September 2010 to conduct technology development in support of the AMDR S-band radar and radar suite controller.

As part of initial range testing conducted earlier this year, the AMDR system validated its digital beam forming performance, tuning techniques and reliable system operation.

Designed for installation onboard the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, as well as a range of future surface combatants, the AMDR S-band radar will provide situational awareness to identify, locate and target ballistic missiles in littoral environments.

More than 500 military and commercial S-band radars have been delivered to date by the company, which are currently used on several platforms.

The firm is also developing an AN/TPS-80 ground/air task oriented radar (G/ATOR) S-band AESA radar system for the US Marine Corps (USMC) and is currently undergoing development and testing at Wallops Island, Virginia, US.

Image: Northrop Grumman-built AMDR radar conducting mission. Photo: courtesy of Northrop Grumman Corp.