SAN DIEGO, March 1, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Integrated Systems sector has been awarded a $24.9 million contract by the U.S. Navy to develop and test the BQM-74F, a significant upgrade of the BQM-74 aerial target that will provide more realistic fleet training against antiship cruise missiles or enemy fighter aircraft.
The contract includes requirements to complete the full system design and development of the BQM-74F system, including kits, support equipment, logistic support and manuals.
Work on this contract will begin in March 2002, with vehicle first flight scheduled in mid-2004. Final assembly and checkout will be performed in Palmdale, Calif., with engineering design, analysis and integration in San Diego. The BQM-74 program is managed by the Navy's Program Executive Office, Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation, and Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.
The Navy will use the BQM-74F to provide more realistic threat simulation to test and evaluate new weapon systems and for fleet training. The BQM-74F is a high subsonic aerial target that will more effectively emulate antiship cruise missiles or enemy fighter aircraft. Compared with the current BQM-74E model, the upgraded target features higher speed, greater maneuverability and increased range and endurance.
Since the 1960s, Northrop Grumman has delivered more than 7,500 vehicles in the MQM/BQM-74 target family to the U.S. Navy and allied nations. The international version of the target is called the Chukar.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a premier aerospace systems integration enterprise. Integrated Systems has the capabilities to design, develop, integrate, produce and support complete systems, as well as airframe subsystems, for airborne surveillance and battle management, early warning, airborne electronic warfare and air combat aircraft. It is also integrating these capabilities for emerging network-centric warfare concepts.
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