MELBOURNE, Fla., Aug. 20, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has taken a significant step toward giving U.S. military commanders a new, integrated approach for rapidly achieving information superiority on the battlefield through the seamless integration of multiple sensors and airborne strike systems.
A team led by the company's Integrated Systems sector has submitted a proposal to develop the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) subsystem for the U.S. Air Force's new E-10A Multisensor Command and Control Aircraft.
The team includes four other Northrop Grumman operating sectors (Electronic Systems, Information Technology, Mission Systems and Space Technology), as well as Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla.; General Dynamics Corp., Arlington, Va.; Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif.; Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif.; Zel Technologies (ZelTech), Hampton Roads, Va.; Alphatech, Burlington, Mass.; L-3 Communications West, Salt Lake City, Utah; and L-3 Comcept, Rockwall, Texas.
The E-10A will provide the Air Force with next-generation cruise missile defense and airborne ground surveillance and targeting capabilities. As the operational "brain" of the E-10A, its BMC2 capability collects, integrates, exploits and distributes sensor data collected by the aircraft's Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program radar and other sensors in the overall command-and-control (C2) constellation. Commanders will use this knowledge to rapidly drive effects-based combat operations, with a strong focus on creating decision-quality information for identifying, tracking and targeting cruise missiles and ground-moving targets.
"Northrop Grumman is committed to providing a BMC2 solution that integrates the most relevant domain knowledge and enabling technologies drawn from across our corporation and companies in the defense and commercial information technology industries," said Scott J. Seymour, Northrop Grumman corporate vice president and Integrated Systems sector president. "The members of this team have a proven track record developing and delivering capabilities that span the spectrum of the military battle space and the commercial economy. To ensure that we capture this experience in the design of our BMC2 network, we've invested in a nationwide virtual battlefield environment that includes actual, realistic simulations of platform sensors, communications and battle management applications, plus a fully functional mockup of the E-10A's BMC2 subsystem. We're using this environment today to frame the network-centric concepts and systems that commanders on the E-10A will employ tomorrow."
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector will serve as the overall program manager for the Northrop Grumman BMC2 team. It will also provide systems engineering, modeling and simulation, ground-moving target indicator (GMTI) exploitation, precision aimpoint generation and mission applications.
The company's Electronic Systems sector will provide leadership in data fusion and exploitation. Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector will provide airborne battle management, mission planning and computing infrastructure expertise, while the Mission Systems sector will lead the communications and network engineering task. The company's Space Technology sector will use its expertise in military space systems and communications systems engineering to help ensure that the team's BMC2 solution leverages the capabilities and advantages of space-based assets.
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (formerly Veridian) will support the team in the areas of security engineering, modeling and simulation and human factors engineering. Harris Government Communications Systems Division will bring proven government communications and imagery exploitation capabilities.
Cisco Systems is a worldwide leader in commercial networking, mobile networking information processing solutions, commercial-off-the-shelf hardware and expert in international computing standards. Oracle brings its leadership in database technology and expertise in managing critical information in a system-of-systems environment. Both of these companies bring industry-leading networking and database management expertise to the team.
ZelTech contributes its expertise in defense operations supporting military C2, battle management and intelligence operations. AlphaTech brings unique software and algorithm development expertise in the key areas of weapons/target pairing, GMTI tracking/exploitation and multi-intelligence fusion. L3 Comcept provides cutting-edge, network-centric collaborative targeting and L3 Communications West provides multiplatform common data link solutions.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $25 billion global defense company, headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. The company provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. It also serves a wide variety of U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers with approximately 120,000 employees and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries.
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