Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been selected as a subcontractor to L-3 Communications to integrate new and existing telemetry technology into an Advanced Airborne Telemetry System (AATS) for the next-generation NP-3C instrumented range support aircraft.

Under the U.S. Navy’s Next-Generation Range Support Aircraft (NGRSA) contract, Ball Aerospace will design, build, and integrate the AATS phased array, consisting of 29 antenna panels and 10 passive combiners. The proven Ball Aerospace modular design simplifies fabrication, installation, maintenance and control of the array.

As part of the contract, the P-3 aircraft will be modified and upgraded, including designing, developing, documenting, installing, integrating, and testing to verify the integration of the aircraft modifications and range instrumentation. The first NGRSA aircraft is scheduled for delivery in 2010.