Army deploys enhanced JTAGS to Japan

The Army has deployed Northrop Grumman-built enhanced Joint Tactical Ground Station capabilities in Japan "to advance battlespace awareness and missile defense," according to a company statement.

The system was first fielded in 1997 to provide in-theater missile warning using data directly from satellite sensors, Northrop said.

"The work is part of the pre-planned product improvement program previously awarded to Northrop Grumman to modernize JTAGS," the statement reads.

Northrop has updated JTAGS' hardware, software and communication systems. Additional JTAGS data sources include feeds from the Space Based Infrared System and Defense Support Program satellites. The company also made improvements to soldier-machine interfaces and for cyber protection.

JTAGS receives and processes data directly downlinked from infrared satellite sensors and then disseminates near-real-time warning, alerting and cueing information on ballistic missile launches and other tactical events of interest throughout the theater using multiple communications networks.

Northrop Grumman has been the JTAGS prime contractor since 1994 under the direction of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command.