World-Traveling Autonomous UAV Receives 'Real Money'

Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector has been awarded a $302.9 million fixed-price-incentive-fee contract modification by the U.S. Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center to provide for the second low-rate initial production lot of the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance system.

The contract includes delivery of four RQ-4A Global Hawk air vehicles, three integrated sensor suites, two electro-optical infrared sensors and one launch and recovery element for the Air Force as well as two air vehicles, two integrated sensor suites, two launch and recovery elements and one mission control element for a planned 2005 maritime demonstration by the U.S. Navy.

Work under this contract will be performed by the company's Unmanned Systems unit in San Diego and completed in 2005.  Additional funding for the Navy's Global Hawk maritime demonstration will be provided under separate contracts and executed by the Unmanned Systems unit and the sector's Airborne Early Warfare and Electronic Warfare unit in Bethpage (NY).

Since the program began in 1995, Northrop Grumman has received more than $1.6 billion in contracts for Global Hawk design, development, testing and production. The first production vehicles will be delivered this year.

FMI: www.af.mil/news/factsheets/global.html; www.northropgrumman.com; www.iss.northropgrumman.com