Military & Aerospace Electronics

Marines make transition from 

gallium arsenide to gallium

 nitride in air-defense radar

August 26, 2015

By John Keller
Editor

QUANTICO, Va., 26 Aug. 2015. Systems designers at Northrop Grumman 

Corp. are inserting new electronic technology into a new U.S. Marine Corps 

air-defense radar to make the system more effective in detecting rockets, artillery,

 mortars, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and other low observables.

Officials of the Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico Marine Base, Va.,

 announced a $9.2 million contract modification Tuesday to the Northrop Grumman

 Electronic Systems segment in Linthicum Heights, Md., to insert gallium 

nitridecomponents into the Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR).

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The contract modification calls for Northrop Grumman experts to switch from

 gallium arsenide to gallium nitride-based electronics to help reduce costs of the 

expensive G/ATOR system, as well as to enhance its performance and reduce its

 weight and power consumption. The contract modification incorporates phase II

 of the gallium nitride transition of the G/ATOR low-rate initial production (LRIP)

 systems, Marine Corps officials say.

G/ATOR is an expeditionary, three-dimensional, short-to-medium-range multi-role

 radar system designed to detect low-observable targets with low radar cross sections 

such as rockets, artillery, mortars, cruise missiles, and UAVs.

Related: Latest order for Marine Corps G/ATOR radar systems brings total 

number of radars to six

Substituting gallium nitride electronic components for older gallium arsenide

 technology will help Northrop Grumman and the Marine Corps reduce the mass 

of the G/ATOR system without compromising its performance, officials say.

Reducing size, weight, and power consumption especially is important for the

 G/ATOR system because Marine Corps leaders plan to use the system on attack

beaches to help defend Marine expeditionary forces from low-observable threats.

 The system must be sufficiently small and lightweight to accompany Marines in

 their initial land attacks.

On this contract modification Northrop Grumman will do the work in Linthicum

Heights, Md., and should be finished by the end of 2016. For more information 

contact Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems online at www.northropgrumman.

com, or Marine Corps Systems Command at http://www.marcorsyscom.marines.mil/.