Northrop Grumman announced Tuesday that it has submitted its proposal for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance system. Northrop leads the transatlantic industry team chosen by NATO to supply the system. The contract award is anticipated in October. Matt Copija, Northrop’s AGS program director, said the system will be “a critical component of the NATO Response Force,” giving alliance members “continuous ground situational awareness” so that they may “minimize the need to put forces in harm’s way without foreknowledge.” AGS features Northrop’s RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40 aircraft equipped with the MP-RTIP radar, mobile and transportable ground stations, and a mission operation support center located at NATO’s main Global Hawk operating base in Sigonella, Italy. (For background, see Update on NATO AGS from the Daily Report archive.)
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.