Northrop Grumman selected for TERN Phase II
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a Phase II contract for the DARPA-Office of Naval Research (ONR) Tactical Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) programme. The company will now proceed with its work to support the development of new UAS capabilities for maritime missions.
The TERN programme aims to explore new concepts for a long-endurance and long-range aircraft that would operate from a variety of US Navy ships. With current long-endurance UAS, manned aircraft and helicopters requiring aircraft carriers or large, fixed land bases for takeoff and landing, TERN envisions using smaller ships as mobile launch and recovery sites for medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAS.
With the goal being to provide long-range ISR and other capabilities from the decks of forward-deployed small ships, TERN will advance technology to enable a full-scale, at-sea demonstration of an R&D prototype UAS from a vessel with the same deck size as an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
Chris Hernandez, vice president, advanced systems, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, said: ‘Being competitively selected to execute Phase II of the TERN programme allows us to further demonstrate how our system could advance the navy's mission. Our TERN solution taps into the company's proven expertise and experience in developing and deploying operational unmanned systems in harsh and challenging environments at sea.
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