STARLite Radar
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Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...
AN/ZPY-1 STARLite Small Tactical Radar - Lightweight is a small, lightweight
synthetic aperture radar Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or 3D reconstruction, three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target regi ...
/ GMTI
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
used in tactical operations. The radar is under contract to the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command for its Extended Range Multi-Purpose ( ERMP)
General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle The General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle (previously the Warrior; also called Sky Warrior and ERMP or Extended-Range Multi-Purpose) is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS). It was developed by General Atomics Aer ...
Unmanned Aerial System An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...
and is manufactured by
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...
. STARLite weighs ., occupies , and requires less than 750 W of power. The Army began to take delivery of the system in 2010. Also in 2010 the system was ready for deployment to the battlefield. From the first orders in 2008 to October 2012, Northrop Grumman delivered half of the 174 radars ordered. Eighteen of the radars on order are a lighter, extended-range version. Weight was reduced by combining the radar power supply and processor and incorporating a Systron Donner inertial system. The new system weights . The
patch antenna A patch antenna is a type of antenna with a low profile, usually consisting of a printed circuit board. It consists of a planar rectangular or circular sheet or "patch" of metal, mounted over a larger sheet of metal called a ground plane. It ...
was replaced with a
slot antenna A slot antenna consists of a metal surface, usually a flat plate, with one or more holes or slots cut out. When the plate is driven element, driven as an antenna (radio), antenna by an applied radio frequency current, the slot radiates electromag ...
, doubling its range to . The original STARLite radar is used on the MQ-1C Gray Eagle and the
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS)
aerostat An aerostat (, via French) or lighter-than-air aircraft is an aircraft that relies on buoyancy to maintain flight. Aerostats include unpowered balloons (free-flying or tethered) and powered airships. The relative density of an aerostat as a ...
. The company is proposing the lighter version for integration onto small UAVs, including the RQ-7B Shadow, the MQ-8C Fire Scout, and the TigerShark UAS. Other potential customers include the
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...
, which flies the
MQ-1 Predator The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator (often referred to as the Predator drone) is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency ...
and
MQ-9 Guardian The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomic ...
, and
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
countries. The active electronically scanned radar is mounted on a rotating mechanical
gimbal A gimbal is a pivoted support that permits rotation of an object about an axis. A set of three gimbals, one mounted on the other with orthogonal pivot axes, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain independent of ...
with a 360 degree field of regard, although the antenna itself has a 110 degree field of view. In addition to SAR/GMTI, it has a dismount moving target indicator mode that can track a person walking on the ground from a range of .Northrop pitches STARLite for MQ-8C
- Flightglobal.com, 23 October 2012 In accordance with the
Joint Electronics Type Designation System The Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), which was previously known as the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature System (AN System. JAN) and the Joint Communications-Electronics Nomenclature System, is a method developed by the U.S. War Depa ...
(JETDS), the "''AN/ZPY-1''" designation represents the first design of an Army-Navy
electronic device Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other electrically charged particles. It is a subfield of physics and ...
for piloted or pilotless airborne vehicle surveillance radar. The JETDS system also now is used to name all
Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
electronic systems.


See also

*
List of military electronics of the United States This article lists American military electronic instruments/systems along with brief descriptions. This list specifically identifies electronic devices which are assigned designations according to the Joint Electronics Type Designation System ...


References


External links


''Northrop Grumman.com'' - AN/ZPY-1 STARLite Small Tactical Radar - Lightweight
(Archived)

(Archived) Aircraft radars Military electronics of the United States Northrop Grumman radars Synthetic aperture radar {{Electronics-stub