Northrop Grumman has successfully completed the System Requirements Review (SRR) and will now enter into the design phase of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Aether Spy next-generation multifunction radar program, the company reported on Tuesday.
“Aether Spy will enable significant improvements in surveillance and battle management missions in the future battlespace. The multifunction aspects are enabled by both software and hardware programmability that will ensure this sensor will have operational impact for years to come,” said Thomas Dalrymple, technical advisor for Sensor Subsystems at the AFRL Sensors Directorate.
Aether Spy will expand multifunction wideband digital Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology, leveraging advanced microelectronics created on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Arrays on Commercial Timescales (ACT) program.
“The advanced integrated circuits, digital AESA architecture and multifunction software developed on Aether Spy will become foundational building blocks for the next generation of multifunction radio frequency (RF) systems supporting the future mission needs of the Department of Defense (DoD),” said William Phillips, director, multifunction systems, Northrop Grumman.
Aether Spy will develop the next generation of integrated circuits, such as additional processing and key design features. The advanced devices will be developed and integrated into an advanced digital AESA to create a multifunction system. The system will be able to simultaneously perform multiple sensing, communication and electronic warfare functions.
“We look forward to demonstrating how the advanced digital AESA technology enables unmatched system agility that will meet the challenging mission requirements of advanced platforms,” Phillips added.
The solution will support the DoD trusted microelectronics strategy.
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defense and cyberspace to meet the ever evolving needs of our customers worldwide. Our 90,000 employees define possible every day using science, technology and engineering to create and deliver advanced systems, products and services.
