The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $57.1 million contract on Aug. 7 to supply “a demonstration unit of the initial parts” of the MP-RTIP radar configured for the E-8C Joint STARS ground-surveillance aircraft. MP-RTIP is the sophisticated advanced electronically steered array radar system that Northrop and Raytheon are developing for the Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. Jim Stratford, Northrop spokesman, told the Daily Report Monday that the purpose of this contract is to demonstrate what can be done with non-sensor elements of the MP-RTIP to improve the performance of the Joint STARS’ existing APY-7 radar system. According to the company, the APY-7 is facing looming parts obsolescence issues early next decade. The Air Force has been looking at options to install a version of the MP-RTIP on the E-8C. This step doesn’t quite go that far, but would be an improvement. (Defense Department Aug. 7 contract announcements)
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…