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.
