Northrop Grumman joins DARPA program for advanced imaging synthetic aperture radar

ARLINGTON, Va., 7 Dec. 2012.Military radar designers at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Systems segment in Linthicum, Md., are joining three other U.S. defense companies in a project to develop imaging radar able to track moving targets through clouds with resolution similar to current infrared targeting systems in clear weather.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., awarded Northrop Grumman a $4.8 million research contract Wednesday to participate in the initial phase of the Video Synthetic Aperture Radar (ViSAR) program.

Northrop Grumman joins the Raytheon Co. Missile Systems segment in Tucson, Ariz.; Nuvotronics LLC in Radford, Va.; and the BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in Merrimack, N.H., in the ViSAR program to develop flyable extremely high frequency (EHF) radar exciters and receivers, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) scene simulation tools, and novel EHF radar-processing algorithms.

Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Nuvotronics, and BAE Systems will develop EHF video SAR technology able to provide high-resolution imagery at high frame rates while minimizing size, weight, and power (SWAP).

DARPA issued the ViSAR solicitation last May, and awarded a potential $2 million contract to Raytheon on Tuesday; a $4.2 million contract to Nuvotronics on Monday, and a potential $1.14 million contract to BAE Systems on 5 Nov.

DARPA officials already are making plans to move ahead with ViSAR system design and development, and will brief industry on their objectives on 10 Dec. 2012 in Arlington, Va.

The upcoming ViSAR system design and development phase will design a flyable EHF high-power amplifier that will provide sufficient power to enable synthetic aperture radar to produce images through clouds.

The ViSAR proposers' day will provide information on the ViSAR program, take questions from potential proposers, and encourage potential proposers to present their capabilities and form industry teams.

For more information contact Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems online at www.es.northropgrumman.com, Raytheon Missile Systems at www.raytheon.com/businesses/rms, Nuvotronics at http://nuvotronics.com, BAE Systems at www.baesystems.com, or DARPA at www.darpa.mil.