Northrop Grumman Expands Radar Role in Missile Testing

, RESTON: Northrop Grumman Corporation is growing its role as a provider of range radar support to the U.S. military. 
 
This fall, the Northrop Grumman-developed C-band radar for the U.S. Navy participated in the successful test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, marking the first time a Navy Strategic Systems Program radar has been used by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to optimize data collection and enhance mission success. 
 
This test adds to Northrop Grumman's ongoing success using this extremely mobile radar, year-round, to collect data on Navy ballistic missile tests in both the Pacific and Atlantic Test Ranges. As a trusted supplier of transportable large-dish radars, Northrop Grumman has demonstrated the ability to rapidly relocate large radar systems worldwide to remote land locations and aboard sea-based platforms on demand. 
 
The GMD test is one such example of the company's ability to bring a radar on-line to a sea-based platform in a short timeframe. Within three weeks of a request for additional assets, Northrop Grumman — under the direction of the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Program Office — relocated the Navy Mobile Instrumentation System (NMIS) C-Band radar from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to California and installed the radar system aboard the Navy ship USNS Pathfinder. The ship was then positioned approximately 600 miles off the coast of California to track the interceptor flight.