PARIS AIR SHOW, Le BOURGET, France, June 20, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a Flight International Aerospace Industry award for its Global Hawk unmanned aerial reconnaissance system.
Northrop Grumman was cited in the Military Aviation category of the Aerospace Industry awards, which are presented annually for the greatest aerospace achievements of the previous year.
Among Global Hawk's numerous accomplishments in 2000 cited by Flight International were the unmanned vehicle's historic flights across the Atlantic Ocean and back during the NATO Linked Seas '00 and its participation in Joint Task Force Exercise. As noted by one judge in Flight International's Industry Awards supplement, Global Hawk "potentially changed our concept of operations by expanding significantly the operating window of UAV systems, offering us new capabilities for the future."
The Global Hawk program is managed by the Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems Sector (ISS) based in Dallas, Tex. Northrop Grumman ISS's Joint STARS computer replacement program and the company's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector's (ES3) BAT brilliant anti-armor submunition development program were finalists in the categories of Engineering, Maintenance and Modification and Space and Missiles, respectively. ES3 is headquartered in Baltimore, Md.
Global Hawk is in engineering and manufacturing development and is expected to enter low-rate initial production in November of this year. Global Hawk returned June 7 to Edwards AFB, Calif., from a six-week deployment to Australia, where it demonstrated maritime surveillance capabilities in a series of exercises with the Australian government. The system set world records for endurance, altitude and distance for jet-powered unmanned air vehicles in preparation for and during its Australian deployment.
Under development for the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aerial reconnaissance system designed to provide military field commanders with high-resolution, near-real-time imagery of large geographic areas. Northrop Grumman ISS's Air Combat Systems business area is the prime contractor, with work performed at its Unmanned Systems facilities in San Diego and Palmdale, Calif.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $15 billion, global aerospace and defense company with its worldwide headquarters in Los Angeles. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in defense and commercial electronics, systems integration, information technology and non-nuclear shipbuilding and systems. With 80,000 employees and operations in 44 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.
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