SAN DIEGO, Oct. 17, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force completed a successful critical design review for the Common Link Integration Processing (CLIP) program, which will enable transformational networking capabilities among current tactical data link systems and future Internet protocol-based systems.
CLIP is jointly managed by the U.S. Navy Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I), and the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center. It will enable network-centric operations by providing real-time access to situational awareness in the battlespace while also providing command and control information to joint service users.
"CLIP will eliminate interoperability problems by enabling weapon systems from U.S. military services and allied nations to use common software. It is expected to save the services hundreds of millions of dollars by reducing platform integration costs as new weapon systems and high-speed tactical networks are introduced," said Barry Rhine, vice president and general manager of the Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems business unit.
Leading up to the critical design review, Northrop Grumman, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) engineers applied an innovative software architecture design process known as Architecture Trade-off and Analysis Methodology (ATAM), to validate the extensibility, modularity, and scalability of the CLIP software design. The government and SEI engineers endorsed the CLIP software architecture and design as ready to begin the next development phase.
The Northrop Grumman team will integrate CLIP with existing computer programs on each weapon system. The CLIP program will operate within multiple computing environments, complying with network-enterprise service-interoperability standards and Joint Tactical Radio System software communications architecture.
The Northrop Grumman team includes Ultra Electronics Advanced Tactical Systems, Austin, Texas; Harris Corporation, Melbourne, Fla.; ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, Calif.; General Dynamics, Fairfax, Va.; and seven small businesses. Development will be performed at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems sector's new state-of-the-art facility in San Diego.
Northrop Grumman was selected to develop the CLIP system in June 2005, under a contract potentially worth $122 million through January 2010.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense company headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. With more than 120,000 employees and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.