WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio – Signals intelligence (SIGINT) experts at Northrop Grumman Corp. will provide cyber security and systems upgrades for the Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP) under terms of a $13 million contract announced Friday.
Officials of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, are asking the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems segment in San Jose, Calif., to provide cyber security support, upgrades, and solutions for diminishing manufacturing sources for the ASIP system.
The airborne ASIP system detects, identifies and locates radar, as well as and other types of electronic and modern communication signals from manned and unmanned aircraft flying at high and low altitudes.
The ASIP SIGINT system provides advanced algorithms for signals exploitation; cross-cueing capability; signals collection in dense RF environments; use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products; rapid response to new and emerging threats; reduced complexity in operations, maintenance and logistics support; reduced need for signal-specific hardware; and rugged environmental extremes like heat, cold, vibration, and unpressurized compartments.
Related: Northrop Grumman's Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload flies on Army Guardrail Aircraft
ASIP was developed in the early 2000s, and has flown aboard the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance jet, the Global Hawk long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and aboard the RC-12 Guardrail reconnaissance aircraft.
The system features rapidly updatable software to meet the needs of complex signal and emitter identification, and geo-location.
On this contract Northrop Grumman will do the work in Sacramento, Calif., and should be finished by December 2020. For more information contact Northrop Grumman Mission Systems online at www.northropgrumman.com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.aflcmc.af.mil.
