Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Simulation to Participate in North West Shelf Trial
CANBERRA, Australian Capital Territory, July 24, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and the Australian government will examine how the company's Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance system can help protect Australia's North West region.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a 4.7 million Australian dollar contract (U.S. $3.5 million) by Australia's Defence Materiel Organisation to conduct a virtual trial in the company's Cyber Warfare Integration Network (CWIN) in San Diego, Calif. this October. The trial will be supported by Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation. Northrop Grumman will work with Australian industry during the trial, drawing upon the considerable skills and experience of local companies in areas such as communications and mission planning.
"Working in the CWIN rather than with production air vehicles allows us to consider future systems and how they would perform in the Australian environment, and it allows Global Hawk aircraft to continue their important missions," said Jerry Madigan, vice president of High-Altitude, Long-Endurance Systems for Northrop Grumman.
Using a virtual Global Hawk interacting with other entities in the CWIN will provide options and flexibility that would be difficult to replicate with an actual air vehicle. Factors such as sensor configurations, target densities, geographic locations and flying conditions can easily be changed in a virtual environment. A virtual trial also is less costly than one using an actual air vehicle.
The Global Hawk system is the only unmanned system of its type deployed with U.S. forces in the Middle East, accumulating more than 5,800 combat hours. It was flown to Australia in 2001 to conduct maritime surveillance demonstrations. Flying for more than 30 hours, without refueling, at altitudes of up to 19,812 meters (65,000 feet), Global Hawk can cover large geographic areas to pinpoint critical targets.
The Australian government will examine the results of the CWIN trial to determine how Global Hawk would perform in a variety of scenarios. One scenario could be detecting suspicious activity and cueing other assets such as the Australian Navy's Armidale-class patrol boats to respond.
Surveillance over wide areas of ocean and land is critical to Australia's security. While Global Hawk has proven its land surveillance credentials in operations around the globe, the system's maritime surveillance capabilities are just now coming on line.
The U.S. Navy recently acquired two Global Hawks to show how the system can be used in maritime surveillance. Recent demonstrations in the U.S. Navy's Trident Warrior 05 exercise used Global Hawk maritime surveillance capabilities, initially developed in Australia, to show the system's ability to monitor activity over large ocean areas.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense company headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. With more than 120,000 employees and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.
CONTACT: Revelle Anderson
011 858 618-4405
revelle.anderson@ngc.com
Brian Humphreys
0409 333 936
brian@humphreyscomm.com.au
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