WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., May 19, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a contract from Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to supply an additional 86 Global Positioning Inertial Navigation Systems (GINS), plus spares, for the U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor to fulfill the critical navigation functions of this advanced fighter aircraft.
An essential avionics system, the GINS provides Raptor pilots with aircraft attitude, heading, velocity and precise position. The company's Navigation Systems Division will produce the 86 GINS plus spares.
"Our Northrop Grumman GINS combines inertial navigation and global positioning system features with sophisticated software processing to provide a tightly integrated solution for improved global positioning system acquisition and anti-jam capabilities for the F/A-22," said Dr. Alexis C. Livanos, vice president and general manager, Navigation Systems Division.
The F/A-22 Raptor multirole air dominance and strike system is the world's first truly stealthy military aircraft capable of simultaneously conducting air-to-air and air-to-ground combat missions with near impunity amid large numbers of sophisticated airborne and ground-based threats. The Raptor's speed, maneuverability, counterair and precision strike weapons allow it to fly both night and day in all weather. The 86 GINS, plus spare units, will be delivered under lot 3 and lot 4 of the contract over the next two years. Assembly and testing of the inertial navigation systems will take place in the Navigation System Divisions' Salt Lake City, Utah, facility.
The GINS, part of Northrop Grumman's LN-100 inertial navigation system product line, is ideal for meeting requirements for low noise outputs and high-accuracy pointing. LN-100G uses standard embedded global positioning system modules and supports current global positioning system mandates.
"The flexibility of this system architecture, which can be adapted to aircraft-specific requirements, makes LN-100/LN-100G the clear choice for both new aircraft as well as aircraft retrofit applications," said Louis Patalano, Northrop Grumman LN-92 program manager. "The LN-100G supports customer hardware and software modifications, and it provides additional card slots to support a variety of expansion modules." LN-100 technology has been applied to aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, launch vehicles, missiles, fighters, helicopters and unmanned underwater vehicles. The LN-100G, used on both U.S. and international military aircraft including the F/A-18 and EA-6B, has been selected by more the 70 customers worldwide.
Value of the agreement is approximately $9 million.
Headquartered in Woodland Hills, the Navigation Systems Division is part of Northrop Grumman's Baltimore-based Electronic Systems sector. The division supplies situational-awareness products for international and domestic defense and commercial markets and offers integrated avionics, navigation and positioning systems for space and high-value platform products, navigation-grade and tactical-grade inertial systems, fiber-optic gyro systems designed to customer requirements, underwater fiber-optic sensors, identification friend-or-foe transponders and interrogators, cockpit displays and computers, and logistic support products and services.
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