Northrop Grumman said in a release July 3 it successfully demonstrated electronic protection capabilities of the AN/APG-81 advanced electronically scanned array radar system during the recent Northern Edge joint military exercise. The radar, which the company is building for the F-35 stealth fighter, was on board a company testbed aircraft during a complex airborne electronic warfare drill and countered advanced electronic attacks intended to degrade, neutralize, or destroy its capability, according to the company. “This event represents a major milestone in electronic protection testing for the AN/APG-81 in an operationally representative environment.” said Teri Marconi, Northrop’s vice president of Combat Avionics. The APG-81 is currently undergoing flight testing aboard Lockheed Martin’s F-35 avionics testbed aircraft, the CATBird, and is being installed in production F-35s on Lockheed’s aircraft assembly line in Fort Worth, Tex.
The Space Development Agency added 21 satellites to its nascent data transport network in an Oct. 15 launch, the second mission in a 10-month campaign to field 154 operational spacecraft.
