Jumped-up JSTARS: MP-RTIP Technology for Ground Surveillance Planes?
Related Stories: Americas - USA, C4ISR, Contracts - Awards, Northrop-Grumman, Radars, Specialty Aircraft, Support Functions - Other
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“E-10A: She’s Dead, Jim” chronicled the end of the US military’s E-10 program. The E-10A sought to combine the functions of 707-based E-3 AWACS aerial surveillance and command aircraft and E-8 JSTARS ground surveillance planes, all packaged in a single 767-400 jet. Advances in modern electronics made the project thinkable, but budgetary constraints killed in in early 2007.
E-10A had 2 key technologies: the MP-RTIP (Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program) wide-scan AESA radar, and the updated Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) mission suite that would be used as the aircraft’s nerve center. The USA’s 17-plane E-8C JSTARS fleet has been an invaluable contributor to every US military ground campaign over the last 15+ years, and is currently undergoing both system upgrades and a re-engining program, in order to improve aircraft readiness and operating costs. Now, there seems to be a glimmer of light with respect to its radar capabilities as well…
- MP-RTIP
- Contracts and Key Events
- Additional Readings
MP-RTIP
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All E-8 Joint STARS aircraft are assigned to the Georgia Air National Guard’s 116th Air Control Wing, a “total-force blended wing” with active-duty Air Force, Army and Air National Guard personnel. The 116th is based at Robins Air Force Base, GA.
Adding BMC2 to existing aircraft would involve substantial rewiring and other “deep maintenance” work, but adding the MP-RTIP radar in place of the existing AN/APY-7 is less difficult. Northrop Grumman has been pressing for an E-8C radar upgrade that would leverage their worth of work on MP-RTIP and improve E-8 scan resolution by a factor of 5x-10x. If the E-8 is not modified, it will leave Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4B Block 40 Gloal Hawk UAV as the sole focus for a cut-down version of that technology.
Since December 2000, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have been teamed for the design, development and production of MP-RTIP, and development of MP-RTIP continues under a $1.2 billion program. Its X-band Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar uses beam steering that can couple electronic and mechanical options. Specifics will depend on the platform and payload space, and antenna size can be tailored accordingly.
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As of the end of May 2009, MP-RTIP was behind its original schedule, and had not tested its most advanced variants. While the basic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and ground moving target indications (GMTI) have finished testing. Due to issues with radar calibration, about 376 hours and 64 flights with Scaled Composites’ Proteus vehicle were needed to iron out radar system level performance verification (RSLPV) on these basic modes, out of a total of 1,063 hours and 186 flights as of May 2009.
Remaining modes include ground high-range resolution (HRR) and concurrent moving-target indicator (MTI) modes. The HRR/c-MTI combination leverages the advantages of AESA technology and improved processing, in order to field a substantially improved SAR/GMTI ground radar scan. Ground HRR allows more precise measurement of a target’s length, while concurrent MTI doesn’t force the radar to suspend collection in other modes. Some sources add that MP-RTIP will also have aerial MTI capability, which would give it the ability to find other UAVs and cruise missiles.
US Air Force officials hope that work on the concurrent modes will be finished in summer 2009, with verification testing concluding in the fall. After that, the sensor will be integrated with Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk Block 40 UAV.
Contracts and Key Events
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Aug 7/09: Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Western Region in El Segundo, CA received a $57.1 million modified contract to provide a demonstration unit of the initial parts of the MP-RTIP for the Joint Stars E-8 platform. At this time, $27.2 million has been committed by the Multi-Sensor Command and Control Aircraft Program Office at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA (F19628-00-C-0100 P00174).
Nov 4/08: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of El Segundo, CA receives a $5.8 million cost reimbursement with award fee contract modification. They will perform a risk reduction study to examine the full extent of the effort required to integrate the E-10’s planned MP-RTIP radar onto the E-8 JSTARS platform. All funds have already been committed by Hanscom AFB, MA (F19629-00-C-0100, Modification P00153).
Work on the study will be done at Northrop Grumman facilities in Norwalk, CT; Melbourne, FL; and El Segundo, CAl and Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business unit. See also Northrop Grumman release.
April 8/09: In “Air Force Radar Plan Imperils Troops,” the center-libertarian Lexington Institute asks:
“What’s wrong with this picture? The Air Force plans to spend over a hundred billion dollars to buy 2,000 new fighters, but it can’t find the money to upgrade a handful of radar planes with better technology for tracking insurgents. Even though it has already spent a billion dollars to develop the new technology it now says it can’t afford to install. And even though warfighters in Iraq have identified an urgent operational need for the new capability.”
Additional Readings
- USAF Fact Sheets – E-8C Joint Stars
- Northrop Grumman – E-8C Joint Stars. Northrop Grumman is the E-8C’s lead integrator; the base plane is Boeing’s.
- Northrop Grumman – Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP)
- GlobalSecurity.org – Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program
- AIAA’s Aerospace America (September 2002) – SARs Will Remain Budget Stars
Events, Updates & Controversies
- Lexington Institute (July 29/09) – Air Force Delay on Radar Plane Fix Hurts Soldiers
- Aviation Week (May 29/09) – MP-RTIP Work Continues With Two Modes Tested
Lexington Institute (April 8/09) – Air Force Radar Plan Imperils Troops
Other E-8 related
- DID (Nov 23/05) – USA Spending $532M to Upgrade its E-8 J-STARS Eyes in the Sky
