LAKE CHARLES, La., Nov. 10, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Following the devastating effects of Hurricane Rita, Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Lake Charles Manufacturing Center was back up to full production the day after parish officials reopened the city.
Even with a two-week closure due to Rita, the facility only needed a seven-day extension to complete work on P-16, one of the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft at the facility for periodic depot maintenance. The extension included stopping production to complete a full inspection of the aircraft for damage from the storm.
"The efforts put out by our customer, our employees and officials at the Chennault Airport Authority and the city of Lake Charles speaks volumes to the value of teamwork," said Dave Nagy, vice president for the company's Joint STARS program. "It was important to get this facility back up as soon as possible, not only to the local economy and to return a high-demand system to the U.S. Air Force, but also to the psyche of our employees."
Since the storm, one additional Joint STARS aircraft has arrived for periodic depot maintenance and work continues on another E-8C. Northrop Grumman's Total System Support Responsibility program works to schedule a minimum number of aircraft through the periodic depot maintenance cycle to maximize operational availability.
"We've been working closely with city officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to secure housing for employees who lost everything in the storm," said Jay Blood, director for the Lake Charles Manufacturing Center. "It is important that we help our employees rebuild their lives and get them back into their routines. The response from our employees to recover from this situation has been remarkable." More than 10 percent of the employees had significant damage to their homes, rendering the homes uninhabitable.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, the prime contractor for the E-8C production and whole life support programs, is a premier aerospace and defense systems integration organization. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., it designs, develops, produces and supports network-enabled integrated systems and subsystems optimized for use in networks. For its government and civil customers worldwide, Integrated Systems delivers best-value solutions, products and services that support military and homeland defense missions in the areas of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; space access; battle management command and control; and integrated strike warfare.