Northrop Grumman Details BAMS Airframe Risk Reduction Element
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman
Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has unveiled the airframe risk reduction
element of its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) offer to the
U.S. Navy. Centered on airframe altitude agility, the program is
supported with full-scale risk reduction testing of the RQ-4N
airframe prior to contract award.
BAMS will supply the U.S. Navy with a persistent global intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system to protect the fleet and
provide a capability to detect, track, classify, and identify
maritime, littoral, and land targets.
The company's testing and risk reduction activities, called Head
Start, are focused on offering the U.S. Navy the lowest risk BAMS
program and delivering a system solution optimized for capability
with lowest developmental and life cycle costs.
"Northrop Grumman's offer includes the RQ-4N air vehicle, which was
derived from the RQ-4B Global Hawk," said Bill Beck, program manager
of Head Start. "It is uniquely configured for the maritime domain and
will meet all of the Navy's threshold requirements and more than 90%
of their objective requirements."
"The RQ-4B is a great program," said Beck. "With the few
modifications necessary to evolve the RQ-4 into an RQ-4N, we have a
non-developmental BAMS solution that is inherently low risk. We've
shown through service life analyses and full-scale testing to
ultimate loads that the RQ-4 platform is well suited to deliver an
exceptionally long vehicle life, with minimal servicing, while
operating to the BAMS environments and U.S. Navy safety factors. The
most recent tests included structurally testing the fuselage,
empennage and V-tails to 150% of design limit loads while at
temperature extremes, resulting in no failures."
Northrop Grumman is using Head Start activities to build on the
proven track record of the RQ-4 platforms, conducting high altitude,
long endurance flights and focusing on demonstrating the RQ-4N's
robustness while operating at various altitudes with the accompanying
environmental considerations. Activities over the next two months
include: bird and hail impact testing of wing leading edges; icing
and de-icing tests of wing leading edge sections; additional
environmental testing of the complete aircraft; and extensive testing
of next generation composite structural materials.
"Our company-funded Head Start program also includes communications
and payload demonstrations on the BAMS Gulfstream II flying test bed,
and it will also include demonstrating a prototype Mission Control
Center," said Carl Johnson, vice president of the BAMS program for
Northrop Grumman.
The Northrop Grumman RQ-4N BAMS team includes Northrop Grumman as
prime contractor and team leader, unmanned aerial vehicle supplier
and developer of the Multi-Function Active Sensor active
electronically scanned array radar and the Night Hunter II
electro-optical infrared sensor; L-3 Communications providing
communications integration; Raytheon supporting the Mission Control
System segment; and Rolls-Royce providing the aircraft engine.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $30 billion global defense and
technology company whose 122,000 employees provide innovative
systems, products, and solutions in information and services,
electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial
customers worldwide.
CONTACT: Jim Stratford
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems
(321) 726-7526
jim.stratford@ngc.com
