REDONDO BEACH, Calif., April 19, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- A team led by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has received a $220 million, 24-month contract to develop the first phase of the Space Based Radar (SBR) program, which is designed to provide integrated, global, persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), as well as real-time support, to U.S. military and intelligence community operations.
Northrop Grumman, as one of two competing contractors, and systems integrator, will provide the concept development of ground-segment, user-segment and operations and support elements. The Boeing Company is responsible for the design, development and production of the SBR space segment, including launch vehicle integration. Raytheon Company will provide global mission and system management, and support to other ground-segment elements. General Dynamics Corporation will provide mission and ground-system analysis and mission data processing elements. BAE Systems will supply large-scale, information storage and retrieval technologies.
The Air Force, in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office, National Geo-Spatial Agency and Electronic Systems Center will provide program leadership at the Joint Program Office, based at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base.
"Space Based Radar, as the worldwide component of an integrated ISR system, will provide a tremendous capability for our military and intelligence communities," said Wes Bush, president of Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector. "Our SBR team has the right people, the vision and the best mix of industrial capabilities to build and deploy a system that is affordable, sustainable and extraordinarily useful to an extremely wide variety of users. This capability will truly transform the future of ISR for the nation."
The first phase of the program calls for Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin teams to develop system and software architectures; conduct studies that balance performance, affordability and risk and schedule; evolve a modeling and simulation capability; demonstrate SBR technology maturity; and develop and manage life cycle costs, among others.
SBR will substantially increase the amount of ISR information available to the military and intelligence community - providing comprehensive, situational awareness. The system's mission will be to provide worldwide, persistent coverage in three major mission areas: (1) Synthetic Aperture Radar for radar-based imagery; (2) Surface Moving Target Indication for detection, identification, geolocation, and tracking of moving objects near or on the surface of land or water; and, (3) High Resolution Terrain Information to a broad array of customers. SBR is unique in its bottoms-up consideration of linkages to other space, air, and ground programs, which is envisioned to provide previously unattainable tasking, delivery, and assured response from space.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense company headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. With approximately 123,000 employees, and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.
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