The AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) system completed two phases of government developmental testing at the Surface Combat Systems Center (SCSC) in Wallops Island, Va., and has moved into the latest phase of developmental testing in preparation for the future U.S. Marine Corps' operational assessment.

G/ATOR is the first ground-based, multimission radar to be developed for the U.S. Department of Defense. Designed to detect and track a wide variety of threats, G/ATOR is built with an open, scalable architecture to enable digital interoperability and enables new capabilities to be added through software-only updates.

During the recently completed testing, G/ATOR successfully detected and tracked a wide range of targets, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and unmanned autonomous systems.

The testing involved multiple aircraft types with significantly varying sizes, speeds and flight profiles. The flight profiles included simultaneously crossing, converging and diverging flight paths at a wide range of target altitudes in a complex littoral clutter environment.

"The AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR system performed well under the most challenging conditions during these tests, validating the power and flexibility of its open systems architecture," said Steve McCoy, vice president for tactical sensor solutions at Northrop Grumman Corporation.

"We anticipate another strong performance as G/ATOR enters its next phase of government testing and moves toward operational service with the Marine Corps."