WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., Oct. 2, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) broke ground today on a new facility at Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the first building in the Wallops Research Park.
Wallops Research Park is a joint effort by NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, the Marine Science Consortium and Accomack County to attract science, technology and educational organizations and provide high-tech jobs to the region.
The one-story, 15,000-square foot building can house up to 55 Northrop Grumman employees supporting the U.S. Navy's Surface Combat Systems Center and NASA. Northrop Grumman provides the Navy with systems engineering, planning, installation, operations and maintenance services for the Ship Self Defense System (SSDS) and the AEGIS Combat System. Both SSDS and AEGIS are advanced, shipboard command and control systems using computers and sensors to track and destroy enemy missiles. For NASA, the company designs, manufactures, tests, and provides launch support for the Sounding Rockets program, which uses low-cost rockets to launch sensors and instrumentation into suborbital space for exo-atmospheric measurements and experimentation.
"This building will be a tier one, modern facility fully equipped with multiple conference centers, a secure processing center and conference room," said Jim Woods, vice president of the Maritime Mission Systems operating unit within Northrop Grumman Mission Systems sector. "This building signifies Northrop Grumman's commitment to the community and to our customers, and it positions the company to better support the Navy for current and future combat systems efforts."
Empire Development, a Virginia Beach, Va., development, brokerage and consulting firm, is expected to complete the building in June. It will be located on Atlantic Road, across from the Surface Combat Systems Center headquarters.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.