Saab has received an $18.6 million contract to provide supporting AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar components for the U.S. Marine Corps. The contract supports the development of the first ground-based multimission active electronically scanned array radar by the U.S. Department of Defense. Once completed, the radars will be used for air defense, ground weapon locating, and air traffic control missions. "With this contract, Saab continues to play a significant role in providing this capability to the U.S. Marine Corps," Saab Defense and Security USA CEO Erik Smith said in a press release. "Saab's proven ability to provide innovative radar technology and highly capable solutions, on our own as well as in partnership with U.S. primes, remains a strong foundation of our company and further supports our leading position as a supplier of radar and sensor systems in the global market." The contract was awarded by Northrop Grumman, which was selected as the prime contractor for the program. Work will include major subsystem delivery and assembly in addition to software for the next 9 low-rate initial production units. Saab delivered the first six systems for the program in previous contracts. Its next deliveries are expected to begin in 2018. Northrop Grumman's AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar program, also known as G/ATOR, aims to provide a variety of detection capabilities for the U.S. Marine Corps. In addition to keeping warfighters safe on the battlefield, Northrop Grumman says the project will drastically lower operation and maintenance costs compared to existing radar systems.