SAVANNAH, Ga.—Northrop Grumman [NOC] is deciding whether to use a radar sensor of its own or one from Raytheon [RTN] for wide area surveillance activities on its Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) recapitalization offering, a company official said Wednesday.
Northrop Grumman Vice President and IPT Leader for Next Generation Surveillance/Targeting Alan Metzger told reporters Northrop Grumman is considering Raytheon’s sensor instead of just using its own because “at the end of the day,” it’s about putting together the best weapon system. Metzger said Northrop Grumman is opening to using another company’s sensor, but no other company has “stepped up.”
Metzger said Northrop Grumman hasn’t made its decision because it is unsure what exactly the Air Force wants for sensor capabilities. Company spokeswoman Kirsti Dunn said Thursday the company’s final decision will be based on the Air Force’s final requirements.
“There are different levels of maturity and different levels of performance capabilities,” Metzger said, regarding the two companies’ sensor offerings while briefing reporters here at subcontractor Gulfstream’s factory. “We don’t yet understand what the Air Force would like, therefore, we can’t make a decision.”
Raytheon’s candidacy to provide Northrop Grumman a sensor is an interesting twist as the company, along with Canada’s Bombardier, is involved with Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] JSTARS team. Lockheed Martin is serving as lead systems integrator while Raytheon is providing its experience with ground surveillance; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems; mission systems integration and JSTARS communications, according to a Lockheed Martin statement. Bombardier is providing its business jet platform for Lockheed Martin’s offering.
Northrop Grumman is teaming with Gulfstream, a division of General Dynamics [GD], and L-3 Communications [LLL] for JSTARS. L-3 is serving as systems integrator and aircraft modification specialist. Gulfstream is providing its G550 or G650-class business jets.
Boeing [BA], along with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, was awarded a pre-engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contract in August for JSTARS. Company spokesman Todd Blecher confirmed Thursday the company is pursuing JSTARS. Boeing provided its 707 commercial airliner for the legacy JSTARS program, for which Northrop Grumman served as prime.
Despite Lockheed Martin’s announcement of a teaming relationship with Raytheon, Raytheon spokesman B.J. Boling said Thursday Raytheon has not exclusively teamed with any prime for the radar because the company wants to ensure it supports the Air Force’s efforts to find the most innovative and affordable solutions. Raytheon, Boling said, is leveraging the full spectrum of its programs and technology development activity to tailor its offerings to each prime with a focus on optimizing the performance of their JSTARS solution.
Boling said Raytheon has offered its scalable, mission-proven Skynet radar to all three primes. Skynet, he said, complies with the Air Force’s Open Mission Systems (OMS) standards and incorporates the latest innovations developed for various wide area surveillance radars.
Metzger said Northrop Grumman’s baseline for mature options could very well be a sensor or a sensor suite as the Air Force is allowing one or the other. The company, he said, will continue to evaluate Air Force requirements and will make a decision when it fully understands what the service wants for radars, performance, openness, development and third-party software insertion.
Metzger didn’t give a firm timeline for when Northrop Grumman expects to make its wide-area surveillance sensor decision, but he expects proposals to be due late 2016 and the Air Force to make its source selection and award a pre-EMD contract in the August 2017 time frame. In the meantime, Metzger said he expects a competition or evaluation to be performed to help Northrop Grumman make its sensor source decision.
The Air Force did not return a request for comment by press time.