Northrop Grumman’s contract for NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance system has an estimated value of $1.7 billion (€1.2 billion), according to the company’s release. The contract, signed on May 20 during NATO’s summit in Chicago, calls for Northrop Grumman’s transatlantic industry team to supply five RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40 remotely piloted aircraft equipped with the Northrop Grumman-Raytheon MP-RTIP radar sensor. The industry team’s European contributors will be responsible for supplying the system’s different types of mobile, remote, and transportable ground stations. The contract is meant to cover the purchase, initial operation, and maintenance of these high-altitude, long-endurance RPA, which NATO intends to utilize for theater operations—such as protecting ground forces, maritime security, and counterterrorism—as well as peacekeeping missions and disaster-relief efforts. “Northrop Grumman and our entire transatlantic industry team are proud to be bringing this strategic capability to NATO and its member nations,” said Wes Bush, Northrop Grumman chairman, CEO, and president.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…