The Advocate March 20, 2008
Norden stands to gain $2B in Navy bid
By Richard Lee
If Northrop Grumman Corp. wins the race to develop an unmanned spy plane, one of its subsidiaries, Norwalk-based Norden Systems, will be among those in the winners circle, celebrating a contract valued at more than $2 billion.
The Los Angeles-based defense contractor is vying with Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp., and Chicago-based Boeing Co. for the contract, expected to be announced next month.
Northrop is trying to capture the order with its RQ-4N Global Hawk, a modified version of the Air Force surveillance plane, which has racked up more than 15,000 flight hours supporting the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The craft can fly as high as 65,000 feet for more than 35 hours with sensors to see through any type of weather below.
For about eight months, Northrop Grumman has been test-flying a new version of the plane, equipped with radar designed and manufactured by Norden Systems, said Frances DiMeglio, spokeswoman for Norden Systems, which employs 425 people.
The Navy calls the technology a Broad Area Maritime Surveillance system. It would provide information to detect, identify and track hundreds of targets on sea and land.
"It's a brand new radar sensor," DiMeglio said. "This would help stabilize the work force. We have the manpower to start right away. We're hopeful."
A decision was expected last year, she said, and the Navy postponed a meeting this month to announce the winner.
The company expects the Navy to act in April, said Bob Wood, director of maritime intelligence at Northrop at a briefing this week in Washington, D.C.
While Northrop Grumman has operated a similar aircraft for several years, Lockheed is leading a team offering a modified version of San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.'s Predator B drone. The Navy version would be called Mariner.
The Boeing team would offer a version of a General Dynamics Corp.-built Gulfstream G550 jet modified to be a pilotless aircraft.
Plans call for the radar-equipped aircraft, which would have a radius of 2,000 miles, to be delivered in 2014, Navy spokesman Clay Doss said.
The Bush administration's budget request for 2009 includes $2.3 billion for research, development, testing and evaluation and $780 million for procurement of the surveillance systems in future years, he said.
Though Northrop Grumman has a proven platform in Global Hawk, it is facing staunch competition from proven players in the industry, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an online tracker of information regarding defense, space, intelligence, weapons of mass destruction and homeland security.
The new unmanned aircraft, with the manned Boeing P8 aircraft, would replace the P3 Orion, produced by Lockheed.
Having both the unmanned and manned aircraft made by the same company could impress the Navy, Pike said.
The Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency use the Predator, a small, unmanned aircraft, made by General Atomic, for surveillance, he said.
"I'm confident that they can deliver on their promises. It (General Atomic) has a lot of operating experience - an enormous amount of flight time," Pike said.
- Bloomberg News contributed to this story.
© Copyright 2008, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
