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Northrop Grumman [NOC] has been tapped to build two prototype ground stations for the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) system, the company said Tuesday.
TITAN is the Army’s program to build scalable and expeditionary intelligence ground stations capable of providing fused sensor data to weapons systems at the battalion level, with prototype demonstrations planned for 2022 and 2023.
“Our ground station prototypes will integrate existing software and hardware capabilities to showcase a unique ability to provide access to multi-domain actionable intelligence from commercial and military space systems,” Troy Brashear, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of integrated national systems, said in a statement.
Defense Innovation Unit and the Army’s Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities office have tasked Northrop Grumman with providing semi-autonomous ground stations that can prove out the potential for utilizing space assets, such as low-Earth orbit satellites, to improve situational awareness and tactical intelligence in contested environments.
“The TITAN system will be a scalable and expeditionary intelligence ground station that will leverage space, high altitude, aerial and terrestrial layer sensors to provide targetable data that allows commanders at all echelons to quickly assess threats to their forces,” the company wrote in a statement. “The system will also help connect the joint force by providing near real-time intelligence using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to rapidly deliver fused data from multi-domain sensors to weapon platforms, such as artillery, jammers, and airborne systems.”
Northrop Grumman said it recently demonstrated to the Army its software architecture designed to fuse multi-domain sensor data and reduce sensor-to-shooter timelines.
“This common software architecture is the basis of the Northrop Grumman space-to-ground TITAN prototype system, potentially enhancing the integration of space-based data systems with the mobile ground stations in later phases of the TITAN program,” the company said in a statement.
The Army included the TITAN ground station program as one 12 programs receiving restored funding in its FY ‘21 budget request, looking to put back $89 million into the prototyping effort (Defense Daily, Feb. 18).
