The US Army has tapped Northrop Grumman for the development of two prototype ground stations for the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) system.
The TITAN system will be a scalable and expeditionary intelligence ground station that will leverage space, high altitude, aerial and terrestrial layer sensors to provide targetable data that allows commanders at all echelons to assess threats to their forces.
In this prototype effort, Northrop Grumman’s deployable and semi-autonomous ground station prototypes will demonstrate the value of space assets in improving battlefield awareness and tactical intelligence in anti-access/area denial (A2AD) environments.
The system will also help connect the joint force by providing near real-time intelligence using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to rapidly deliver fused data from multi-domain sensors to weapon platforms, such as artillery, jammers, and airborne systems.
“Our ground station prototypes will integrate existing software and hardware capabilities to showcase a unique ability to provide access to multi-domain actionable intelligence from commercial and military space systems,” said Troy Brashear, vice president, integrated national systems, Northrop Grumman.
By leveraging commercial and military space assets, the system will facilitate deep-sensing, reduce sensor-to-shooter (S2S) timelines, and maximize the effectiveness of long range precision fires (LRPF).
A separate TITAN acquisition will provide mobile ground stations that link to terrestrial, high-altitude and airborne sensors to provide targeting data to the Army. Northrop Grumman teams recently demonstrated a software architecture to the Army that is capable of fusing multi-domain sensor data and reducing the sensor-to-shooter timelines. This common software architecture is the basis of the Northrop Grumman space-to-ground TITAN prototype system, potentially enhancing the integration of space-based data systems with the mobile ground stations in later phases of the TITAN program.
The prototype phases are expected to support multiple demonstration exercises in 2022 and 2023.
