The U.S. Department of Defense said Tuesday that has received a $42,2 million contract modification for Next Generation Surface Search Radar (NGSSR) efforts.

The modification to the previously awarded contract exercise options for production of new navigation radar, the NGSSR, according to a recent service news release.

The new radar system designed to be affordable (for wide deployment) and having a range consistent with its primary navigation function, the radar will make full use of the latest digital technology and incorporate a software-based architecture at its core, Navy officials say.

NGSSR will be “software-defined” radar, similar to what has been so successfully done with software-defined radio. This software-defined radar feature is primarily intended to meet the sustainability requirements for the radar by drastically reducing radar-specific hardware.

NGSSR will replace all variants of the current AN/SPS-67, AN/SPS-73, BridgeMaster E series and commercial-off-the-shelf radar systems.