USMC Conducts Operational Assessment of GATOR System

The AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) system, built by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Marine Corps, has successfully conducted developmental testing and supported two Weapons and Tactics Instruction (WTI) events at Marine Air Control Squadron (MACS) Yuma over the past 10 months. These events supported the operational assessment of the G/ATOR system for Milestone C.

During the assessment, Northrop Grumman's AN/TPS-80 provided excellent situational awareness by successfully detecting, tracking and identifying a wide range of aerial targets. The radar also demonstrated its ability to extract targets from heavy clutter backgrounds. The radar also exceeded its objective-level operational availability requirement.

"Under very intense testing conditions, our AN/TPS-80 detected and tracked targets that other systems at the exercise were not able to," said Jeffrey Q. Palombo, Vice President and General Manager of Northrop Grumman's Land and Self Protection Systems Division.

"We look forward to continuing our strong partnership and collaboration with the Marine Corps on this program as it proceeds to Milestone C."

The AN/TPS-80 is the first ground-based, multimission radar to be developed for the Department of Defense. Designed to detect and track a wide variety of threats, the radar is built with an open, scalable architecture to enable digital interoperability and incorporation of new capabilities through software-only updates.

Earlier this year, Northrop Grumman's AN/TPS-80 Engineering Development Model (EDM) system demonstrated its ballistic missile defense capability by successfully detecting multiple rocket launches during company-funded testing at Wallops Island, Va.

The Government AN/TPS-80 EDM system then completed two phases of government developmental testing at the Surface Combat Systems Center (SCSC) at Wallops Island before undergoing more rigorous developmental testing at MACS Yuma.

Completion of the developmental testing and assessment, along with the successful conduct of the production readiness review in September, positions the USMC for a Milestone C decision to authorize low-rate initial production.