Ramona Adams
QinetiQ North America has been awarded a $3 million contract to help the U.S. Air Force design and build an airborne wind profiling portable radar prototype.
QNA said Wednesday the WiPPR unit will be designed to demonstrate wind measurement in near real-time.
The Air Force will use the radar to help the service branch’s C-130 and C-17 aircrews drop supplies accurately to U.S. ground forces in austere environments.
Bob Polutchko, vice president of QNA’s emerging markets segment, said the airborne WiPPR will work to support the execution of a “single-pass” resupply of troops as well as minimize the exposure of aircraft and aircrews to enemy attacks.
The radar will be based on the company’s ground-based WiPPR systems currently available for research, weather and commercial wind sectors worldwide.
