Northrop Grumman’s AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar has drawn interest from the U.S. Army after earning strong praise from Marine Corps leaders. The attention comes as fielding of the system moves well beyond the halfway point.
Known as G/ATOR, the multi mission radar is the Marine Corps’ answer for defending against a wide range of airborne threats, particularly across the Pacific littorals. It replaces five older radar systems while combining several roles in a comparatively compact package.
The radar received an extended range software upgrade last year that increased its capability. The improvement also advanced its ability to distinguish friendly aircraft from potential foes operating in the surrounding airspace.
During an Oct. 7 call with reporters, Northrop Director of Mission Systems Paul Weaver said the company had delivered 43 of the 60 systems ordered by the Marine Corps. Five of those systems are designated for the Air Force, while one is assigned to Navy test and evaluation.
“Demand for the system in theater right now is high, and it’s based on that performance,” Weaver said. He added that Northrop has modified the system during the past four or five years in response to customer input, including hardware changes that extended its range.
The company also continues making software improvements intended to address specific threat environments. Weaver identified unmanned aerial systems, ranging from the smallest to the largest, as well as other potential threats faced by military customers.
Weaver said Northrop was “actively engaged at the headquarters level” with the Marine Corps and the Air Force regarding the best ways to employ G/ATOR. He said the company had also recently begun engagements with the Army.
Although Weaver declined to say whether the Army was interested in purchasing the radar, he described its capabilities as appealing across the services. Multiple systems can operate in a complementary fashion while remaining in constant movement, complicating an adversary’s target cycle.
Mobility is one of the radar’s central selling points. At 9,000 pounds, G/ATOR is light and compact enough to be carried aboard C-130 Hercules or MV-22 Osprey aircraft.
A four person crew can set up and emplace the system in under ten minutes. G/ATOR can also shift power settings from 60 kilowatts for medium range targets to 75 kilowatts for longer range kills.
Initial fielding to the Marine Corps began in 2018. More recently, service leaders have indicated that the Corps could expand its acquisition plan as operational demand and confidence in the system continue to build.
“We learned that it’s much more capable than we thought,” Brig. Gen. Christopher Haar, now commander of the 3rd Marine Logistics Group, told Military Times last December. “And now there’s a demand for us to get that in more units, and to potentially increase the number of those systems that we buy.”
The War Zone reported last month that the Pacific based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit had used the service’s Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations concept for the first time in combat. That employment occurred during operations supporting the Operation Epic Fury conflict with Iran.
It remains unclear whether G/ATOR was involved in that use of the concept. Weaver nevertheless suggested that the current conflict was highlighting the system’s strengths, especially its mobility, surveillance capabilities, and ability to support expeditionary operations.
The radar features a 360 degree active electronically scanned array and can be flown into an austere location to help establish an expeditionary air base. From there, it can create a surveillance perimeter, support airspace control, locate hostile fire launch points ranging from mortars to artillery, and function as a ground based air traffic control manager.
“It’s proving in recent conflicts and around the globe to perform exceptionally well in clutter, which makes it very helpful in identifying all classes of UASs and cruise missiles,” Weaver said. According to Weaver, G/ATOR can provide weapons quality data that allows warfighters to connect detected threats with available kinetic or nonkinetic countermeasures.