Mary-Louise Hoffman
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have been awarded two-year contracts worth $11 million combined to help the Air Force explore new methods of manufacturing active phased array radars for military aircraft, Military & Aerospace Electronics reported Thursday.
John Keller writes that Northrop won $3.8 million and Raytheon won $7.1 million to support phase one of the branch’s Affordable Radio Frequency Multifunction Sensors program.
The companies will aim to develop techniques to decrease cycle time, part count and costs for building active electronically scanned array radar technology.
AESA sensors are designed to use a digital signal processing system and emits radio-wave beams from transmitter and receiver modules, according to Keller.
Northrop will perform contract work in Linthicum Heights, Md. while Raytheon will conduct work in El Segundo, Calif.
First phase of the ARMS project is expected to be completed by March 2016.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is the contracting activity.
