Northrop Grumman awarded Joint STARS retrofit contract
Northrop Grumman will retrofit the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft, trainers and laboratories under a $43 million contract from the US Air Force.
Under the contract Northrop Grumman will conduct work to replace computers in both the operator work stations (OWS) and radar signal processor, install larger OWS displays to improve operator situational awareness and migrate the OWS operating system to a LINUX-based, open-system architecture. The company will upgrade the system's on-board network infrastructure to increase its bandwidth and improve communications performance for the operator.
Bryan Lima, Joint STARS program director, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, said: ‘This transition enables our warfighters to get the most capability out of the Joint STARS system. The open-architecture technology insertion will enable cost-effective upgrades well into the future, allowing us to keep the platform relevant to address emerging threats, while also helping target and identify hostile movement more quickly and efficiently.’
Joint STARS is the airborne command, control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform for the US Air Force's air-to-ground battle management and surveillance operations. The platform provides long endurance, all-weather surveillance and tracking of moving and stationary targets; helping US and allied forces shorten the attack and decision chain.
The contract includes options for an additional three years to complete retrofit of the entire fleet.
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