Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully demonstrated an open mission systems (OMS) compliant active electronically scanned array (AESA) sensor in recent ground and multiple flight demonstrations, the company reported on Monday.
OMS is an approach based on open architecture design allowing customers to rapidly add new or improved capabilities, regardless of supplier, at a reduced cost.
“These demonstrations continue to act as pathfinders to enable further OMS opportunities,” said Paul Kalafos, vice president, surveillance and electromagnetic maneuver warfare, Northrop Grumman.
During the demonstrations, Northrop Grumman leveraged its advanced wideband AESA sensor, and connected it to an OMS-compliant mission computing system supplied by Boeing. The company integrated the sensor with the Boeing mission computing environment to focus on specific targets, and capture and manage data.
Additionally, Northrop Grumman was able to communicate the information back to the mission computing system. The successful demonstration marks a key step in continuing the validation and integration of OMS-compliant systems and the ability to successfully transfer relevant active-passive kill chain data.
“Using an agile framework, we can quickly develop and adapt complex, multi-function systems to enable multi-mission nodes at the tactical edge of the battlespace, be it Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), electronic warfare, or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” added Kalafos.
Northrop Grumman plans to integrate a combination of OMS/Open Communication Systems sensors and software-defined radios across multiple platforms, networks and nodes to address driving mission needs and ensure multi-domain interoperability.
“Northrop Grumman is a pioneer in developing multi-function sensors,” said Greg Simer, vice president, air dominance and strike, Northrop Grumman. “Through our iterative development and flight demonstrations, we are focused on agile development with OMS-compliant sensors and commercial practices to prove the rapid integration of capabilities across mission sets. The result is faster and more affordable advances in sensor capabilities for U.S. forces and their allies.”
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.
