HERNDON, Va., July 9, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- A team led by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been selected by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) to develop its Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit (C/JTMK). The contract is worth $72 million to Northrop Grumman's Information Technology (IT) sector, and will add approximately 30 jobs to the company's offices in Chantilly, Va.
The program will focus on the development of a commercial version of NIMA's Joint Mapping Toolkit, which provides military and intelligence agencies with a common suite of imagery software versus independent versions produced by various organizations.
"We are very excited to be working with NIMA and our industry teammates to advance geoprocessing software capabilities for mission application development," said Stu Shea, Northrop Grumman IT TASC vice president and director, Space Intelligence. "The C/JMTK program provides the means to deliver on the promise of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) integration, open systems, and standards and opens the door to Defense Department-wide command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) interoperability."
C/JMTK will provide the mapping foundation for the defense information infrastructure common operating environment (DII COE), supporting DoD C4ISR. The DII COE is a software infrastructure that enables mission applications, such as the maneuver control system, shipboard command and control systems, theater battle management core system, and global command and control systems, to interoperate and share common software functions.
The C/JMTK program will build upon and commercialize the existing Joint Mapping Toolkit concept, a common suite of government software that has provided the mapping utilities, analysis tools and visualization for C4ISR systems. This commercialization will provide enhanced functionality, interoperability and value by combining the best that government and industry have to offer in applying standard mapping software to the Defense Department's needs.
The C/JMTK program will insert COTS geographic information systems (GIS) components into the DII COE and associated Joint and Service C4ISR systems using ESRI's ArcGIS software as a foundation. This system will provide the warfighter with a comprehensive range of mapping utilities, analysis tools, and visualization to support real-time situational awareness, track management, terrain analysis, multi-intelligence fusion, and other important geographically based functions. The C/JMTK program will use a common spatial information infrastructure and open software application framework.
Northrop Grumman IT will implement the C/JMTK program, which includes providing software development, systems engineering, DII COE segmentation, testing, training and prototyping at NIMA's Reston, Va., location.
The Northrop Grumman IT team includes ESRI, Redlands, Calif. Northrop Grumman IT and ESRI have brought GIS technology to the mainstream defense and intelligence community through a shared vision of spatial information management. This collaboration has resulted in several world-class GIS implementations including ESRI's ArcView Tracking Analyst extension, the U.S. Marine Corps Topographic Production Capability, and the U.S. Army Combat Terrain Information System.
"ESRI has had a long and productive relationship with the Department of Defense," said Jack Dangermond, ESRI president. "We have listened intently to the needs of this most exacting of communities, and with this contract award we are committed to delivering the world's best geographic information systems into mission applications."
In addition to ESRI, other members of the Northrop Grumman IT team for C/JTMK include Analytical Graphics, Inc., Malvern, Pa., and ERDAS/Leica Geosystems, Atlanta, Ga.
Work on this program will be performed in Chantilly, Va., Redlands, Calif., and Malvern, Pa.
Northrop Grumman Information Technology is a premier provider of advanced IT solutions, engineering and business services for government and commercial clients. Headquartered in Herndon, the company's expertise spans such areas as information systems integration; command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR); enterprise hardware and software solutions; training and simulation; base and range support; signals intelligence; space systems; health informatics; and specialized scientific, engineering and technical services.
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