Deployed On Nine Widebody Planes In Revenue Service

Northrop Grumman Corporation announced Friday its Guardian Counter-Man Portable Air Defense System (C-MANPADS) -- currently installed on nine wide-body aircraft flying daily in commercial revenue service -- has achieved 12,000 on-aircraft operational hours.

"The program and system are a continuing success," said Robert Del Boca, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division. "The accumulation of operating hours in the intended environment is providing significant data regarding the veracity of the design. We will continue the flight test program for the next four months and anticipate ongoing positive achievements."

Northrop Grumman began Phase III of the US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) C-MANPADS program in August 2006. FedEx has outfitted nine of its DC-10 cargo aircraft to date with the bathtub-size system.

The program is scheduled to conclude in March 2008 with a final report to DHS.

The Northrop Grumman-led industry team has completed all contract production and hardware delivery requirements and is currently fully engaged in daily flight test operations across the nation. As of October 12, the Guardian system has accumulated more than 2,500 revenue service flights, logging more than 12,000 hours of on-aircraft operating time.

The Guardian system is a defensive aid utilizing proven military technology to defend against the threat that anti-aircraft, shoulder-fired missiles poses to commercial aviation. Once launched, the missile is detected by the Guardian system, which then directs a non-visible, eye-safe laser to the seeker of the incoming missile, disrupting its guidance signals, and protecting the aircraft.

To date, Northrop Grumman has completed an extensive flight test program in commercial test operational environments that included the use of a ground-based electronic missile surrogate to simulate the launch of a shoulder-fired missile toward aircraft during takeoff and landing.

The tests were performed on an MD-11, an MD-10 and a B-747 aircraft. In each test, the Guardian system functioned as designed, automatically detecting the simulated launch and mock missile.

FMI: www.northropgrumman.com