Northrop Grumman has started flight testing a new radar for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle—using a high-flying Proteus aircraft stand-in—that will give commanders better situational awareness, combat target identification, target tracking, and time-critical tracking. Called the multi-platform-radar technology insertion program sensor, the airborne surveillance radar flew for the first time on a high-altitude Proteus aircraft for two hours at 22,000 feet flying as fast as 100 knots, according to a Northrop Grumman press release. Northrop, which previously tested the pod alone on the Proteus, has a $90 million contract to integrate the MP-RTIP with its Global Hawk.
The Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 defense budget, submitted to Congress last week, accelerates the downsizing of the U.S. Air Force. It proposes divesting 340 aircraft, while only acquiring 76. These cuts risk the Air Force’s ability to prevail.
