Marines receive new advanced air defense system as air threats loom

August 1, 2018

Marine Corps Times:

The recent delivery of a new advanced air defense system on Thursday shows the Corps is getting serious about a looming air defense threat.

Air defense is something the Corps hasn’t had to think much about over the past 17 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. aircraft have dominated the airspace. An advanced radar system will be pivotal to the Corps as it prepares for a potential fight with near-peer adversaries where air and ballistic missile threats are rising.

On Thursday Northrop Grumman delivered the first Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, or G/ATOR, which incorporates a new advanced high-powered antenna technology known as GaN.

“The incorporation of this advanced technology in production radars is unique to the Marine Corps and enables G/ATOR to provide additional mission capability to the warfighter at an affordable cost,” Roshan Roeder, vice president, land and avionics C4ISR division at Northrop Grumman, said in a press release.

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