MOSS POINT, Miss., March 29, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Governor Haley Barbour awarded Jackson County with the Mississippi Governor's Award of Excellence on March 25 for a major improvement project at the Trent Lott International Airport. The project, partially funded as a Katrina Community Development Block Grant, added a taxiway to connect Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point to the airport's runway.
Northrop Grumman also helped provide funding for the taxiway project, which began in early January 2009 and will provide direct access from the company's production facility to the airport's taxiway for testing of the MQ-8B Fire Scout, a vertical unmanned aircraft system (VUAS).
"This airport upgrade enables Northrop Grumman's current and prospective customers to see our Fire Scout capabilities in Moss Point without traveling to multiple locations," said Jim Zortman, Unmanned Systems Development Center site manager and sector vice president for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. "It also serves as a testament to our valued partnership with the community, officials from Jackson County and the state of Mississippi."
The Moss Point facility is Northrop Grumman's production site for the MQ-8B Fire Scout VUAS. The facility is currently building Fire Scouts and ground control stations for the U.S. Navy. The site has also built two company-funded Fire Scouts and is currently building a company-funded ground control station.
The Moss Point site also builds fuselages for the high-altitude, long-endurance RQ-4 Global Hawk. Early last year, the facility completed the first Euro Hawk® fuselage, which is currently undergoing testing in California and scheduled to be delivered to Germany later this year.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.