AESA Radar on Ground Mounting Provides 360° Coverage Earlier this year the US Army selected Northrop Grumman’s Highly Adaptable Multi-Mission Radar (HAMMR) to demonstrate its multi-mission capability by including it in the 2017 counter-rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) test programme at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

HAMMR is a multi-mission sensor incorporating an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fighter radar on a vehicle or trailer to provide continuous 360° coverage of multiple ground and airborne targets — all while operating on-the-move. It provides operators with situational awareness, counter-fire operations, air defence, early warning and airspace management capabilities. The modular self-contained system includes on-board prime power and cooling, AESA and radar electronics, and operator/maintainer display modules which support multiple packaging concepts, making HAMMR easily adaptable to multiple vehicle types, fixed installations and C2 interfaces.

During the C-RAM test programme, the system successfully detected and identified Groups I and II unmanned aerial systems, providing real-time situational awareness to the operator. HAMMR also validated its ability to connect to the Army’s Forward Area Air Defense C2 system, which enables the communication of information from the system back to the force.

“HAMMR is the only AESA radar out there today that can support our manoeuvre forces’ on-the-move multi-mission operation,” Roshan Roeder, Northrop Grumman’s Vice President, Mission Solutions, explained. “Since HAMMR shares common hardware with our fighter aircraft radars, our customers realise the cost advantages of high-volume AESA production and benefit from the inherent reliability of this mature, proven technology.”