Northrop Grumman Tests Sensor for Next Generation Aerial Drone

Northrop Grumman Corporation is testing its new multifunction active sensor developed for broad area maritime surveillance by MQ-$C unmanned aerial vehicles. The Norwalk electronic systems division on-board sensor will give the aerial drone a 360 degree vision.

The multifunction active sensor or MFAS will launch the next generation of drone aircrafts for the Navy. The MFAS is set to give the drone an ability to spotlight a particular geographic area for longer time frames. It will also make an easier detection of an area of interest in terms of smaller targets such as sea clutter.

The broad area maritime surveillance or BAMS will provide the U.S. Navy with a very capable persistent maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system to provide a capability to detect, track, classify and identify maritime and littoral targets as per Captain Bob Dishman. He is the Navy’s BAMS UAS program manager.

Northrop Grumman will deliver the first of the MFAS sensors to its San Diego facility in California in June this year. A second sensor will be delivered in the month of September. The sensor will be tested in flight on the company’s Gulfstream II test aircraft.